David,
Some more on hector ruiz:
Generally very positive IMHO.
Ruiz quits Motorola for AMD
By David Lammers and Brian Fuller
EE Times
(01/25/00, 7:43 p.m. EST)
AUSTIN, Texas ? Hector Ruiz, in a sudden move that stunned Motorolans here Tuesday, resigned as president of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector to take the president's job at a resurgent Advanced Micro Devices, effective immediately. AMD founder and chairman Jerry Sanders, under intense pressure over the last six months to find a successor to Atiq Raza, turned to Ruiz, who had worked closely with Sanders during the past two years to establish alliances in flash memory and copper process technology.
Ruiz inherited a troubled operation at SPS, and overhauled the $7 billion operation repeatedly over the past three years.
He will be replaced by Fred Tucker, who is a Motorola corporate vice president and deputy to the office of chief executive, Chris Galvin.
In a hastily called news conference, Sanders said he and Ruiz will work together over the next two years. "Hector and I will run the business collegially ... as a team. In some cases, my skills will mean that I will make the final call. In some cases, Hector's skill set will mean that he will make the final call," Sanders added.
"If all goes well, Hector would be my successor," he said, adding that the pair's job now is to "take AMD to the next level, with more consistent performance."
AMD has sought a president since July 1999 when Raza?who came over when AMD acquired Raza's NexGen Microsystems Inc.? abruptly quit as president and chief technologist.
During the past two years, Ruiz and Sanders have worked together on flash memory codevelopment and copper technology-sharing. AMD's Fab 25 is located here, not far from Motorola's SPS headquarters. Ruiz will maintain residence in Austin and have offices at both AMD's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters and here.
During the past six months speculation has continued that Motorola might even use part of AMD's new Dresden, Germany, fab for 0.18-micron copper production.
Ruiz said leaving Motorola was "a very difficult decision. It's always been my dream to lead a company some day. AMD may give me that opportunity."
The 22-year Motorola veteran came into the top slot at SPS claiming that he would emulate Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, who said revolutionaries first burn down the churches and schools and then build them back up for the people.
"He took a Cuisinart to the old boy network," market analyst Will Strauss said of Ruiz's first year at SPS.
Ruiz, who joined Motorola in 1977, said of his time at Motorola that he and his management team "established a solid foundation in cellular communications. We focused SPS on customers and solutions and not on standard products."
Up to the task?
But not all reviews of Ruiz have been positive. Three reorganizations over three years have frustrated some Motorolans, prompting many in the executive ranks to leave the company. And while AMD has largely conquered its manufacturing problems with the Athlon processor, Motorola has stumbled in manufacturing the fastest speed grades of the G4 Altivec RISC processor, angering Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs.
However, Strauss questioned whether the strong-willed Sanders and Ruiz will complement each other. AMD's need is for a strong operating officer. Ruiz's strengths have been as a strategic thinker rather than in running Motorola's day-to-day operations.
On the other hand, when Motorola was hamstrung by overcapacity two years ago, Ruiz moved quickly to close or sell fabs and move the company toward splitting manufacturing 50-50 between Motorola fabs and foundries.
Tucker, a 34-year veteran of Motorola, has served as president and general manager of the Integrated Electronics Systems Sector and, before that, was executive vice president and general manager of the Automotive and Industrial Electronics Group.
"This is the most dramatic move at Motorola since 'Hogan's Heroes,'" Strauss said, referring to the time in the early 1970s when Motorola executive C. Lester Hogan left for Fairchild and took about a dozen Motorolans with him, including future LSI Logic founder Wilf Corrigan.
"This is a shocker," Strauss said. "Clearly Hector has found a more lucrative position, one that puts him just one person away from the top job."
Fred Shlapak, who last year was named the chief operating officer at SPS, has helped stabilize the day-to-day operations. ?Additional reporting by Will Wade. |
