Good Morning America-
A spate of news and appointments out of Seagate today including a new COO. Watkins is top-notch and will do well IMO.
Best;
Stitch
SEAGATE APPOINTS BILL WATKINS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA - August 24, 1998 - Further strengthening its core management team, Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) today announced the appointment of William D. Watkins to the position of chief operating officer. He will continue to report to Stephen J. Luczo, Company president and chief executive officer. Mr. Watkins will have responsibility for Seagate's disc drive manufacturing, recording media, and recording heads operations.
"Appointing Bill to the position of chief operating officer clearly reflects the total confidence I have in his ability to continue the improvement of our drive and component operations and to accelerate our efforts of cross-functional teamwork and integration. During the past year
Seagate has implemented a series of business strategies designed to leverage the unique strengths of this corporation," said Luczo. "One of Seagate's key strengths is the wealth of talent and technical expertise that resides throughout the Company. The structural changes that we are implementing are designed to leverage these core capabilities through closer integration of all our functional and operating organizations. With highly-efficient cross-functional teams, we are better positioned to achieve and maintain leadership in a technology-driven business with very rapid product evolution. I believe that with these changes we have a management team and structure that reflects a broad range of technical, strategic and operating capabilities that will position Seagate as the storage industry leader.
"Bill's appointment to COO reflects his expertise in storage technology development, engineering, and manufacturing operations. In his most recent position as executive vice president for the Company's disc drive operations, and COO for the Company's recording media operations, Bill's organization affected significant improvements to our operations including increased leverage and commonality across product lines, improved quality and yields, and improved scrap reduction."
Bill Watkins joined Seagate with the Company's merger with Conner Peripherals in 1996. He developed the Conner Disk Division in 1990 and managed its success through the merger with Seagate. Prior to joining Conner Peripherals, Mr. Watkins held executive positions with Domain Technology, where he managed the MINT (Magnetic Information Technology) disc media manufacturing process. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Texas.
Hegarty Resigns
Dr. Brendan Hegarty, executive vice president for Seagate's Recording Heads Group, has announced his intention to leave the Company at the end of the current fiscal quarter. He will report to Mr. Watkins during this transition period. Dr. Hegarty has had an outstanding career at Seagate, building the Recording Heads Group into the largest manufacturer of recording heads in the world. Patrick Bonnie has accepted the position of senior vice president and general manager of the recording head operations.
Pat Bonnie has more than 30 years' experience in the development and manufacture of magnetic storage components. Prior to joining Seagate he held executive positions with Control Data Corporation and Imprimis in the areas of engineering and manufacturing. Mr. Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology, and has done graduate work in engineering and law. He has also authored several technical papers, and holds numerous storage technology patents.
In other news from Seagate today, the Company announced the launch of its new world class research organization, and the appointment of Dr. Mark Kryder to the newly created roll of senior vice president, and director, Seagate Research. Seagate also announced the promotion of Dr. Mark Brewer to senior vice president, Information Technologies and CIO, and the promotion of Brian Dexheimer to senior vice president, Product Line Management and Marketing for Seagate's desktop product line.
SEAGATE LAUNCHES NEW WORLD-CLASS
RESEARCH ORGANIZATION AND DEDICATED FACILITY
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - August 24, 1998 - Dedicated to the exploration of advanced and alternative information storage technologies, Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) today announced the launch of a new research organization and dedicated facility focused on the materials, processes and technologies that will extend the currently perceived limits of magnetic and optical recording. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Seagate Research will be linked to premier universities worldwide, to the Seagate component and drive design centers, and to the Company's Advanced Concepts Labs, including its Quinta subsidiary. Dr. Mark H. Kryder, previously director of the Data Storage Systems Center at Carnegie Mellon University, will oversee advanced research and development activities at the new Seagate Research facility. Dr. Kryder has been appointed senior vice president, and director, Seagate Research.
An initial investment of $30 million will provide the research center with the resources, staff and equipment needed to launch initial projects. In the first year of operations, Seagate anticipates the new organization will staff approximately 40 of the industry's brightest engineers, scientists and professionals and grow to a staff of over 100 people by the end of fiscal year 2001.
"The data storage industry is a technology-driven business," said Tom Porter, Seagate executive vice president and chief technical officer. "To maintain leadership in an environment of advancing technology and rapid product evolution, Seagate must foresee the limits of today's technology, understand the needs of tomorrow's world and build a strategic path towards the future. Seagate Research will be a scientific environment dedicated to galvanizing the creativity of the Company's strongest assets-our employee talent-and utilizing new resources to capitalize on our existing global infrastructure. Led by one of the industry's top research scientists, Dr. Mark Kryder, the facility will focus on critical research areas including superparamagnetic effects and advanced technologies to circumvent them. The goal of Seagate Research is to be the industry's leading center for technological advancement and human inventiveness."
Initial Seagate Research projects will include exploring materials, processes and devices that will enable scientists to push back the superparamagnetic limit, the theoretical areal density limit of traditional magnetic recording, and allow current magnetic recording technology to continue advancing for the next decade. Along with the Seagate-owned Quinta Corporation, the organization will dedicate resources to the continued development and research of optical storage technology. Moreover, research on future storage technologies such as scanning probe storage based upon micro-electromechanical systems will also be pursued, as will research on new storage system architectures and new applications for future generation ultra-high density storage devices.
Additionally, direct links to Seagate's component and drive design centers will be architected to foster cross-functional communication and assure the rapid transfer of emerging technology to the Company's Advanced Concepts Labs and product and component development teams.
"Carnegie Mellon's Data Storage Systems Center has produced several spin-off companies in the past," said Jared L. Cohon, Carnegie Mellon president. "The University is delighted that the innovative work that's been done by Dr. Kryder and others at the center has now attracted to the Pittsburgh region a major company like Seagate, the world's largest manufacturer of magnetic disc drives."
In other news from Seagate today, the Company announced the appointment of Dr. Mark Kryder to the newly created role of senior vice president, and director, Seagate Research. Seagate also announced the appointment of William D. Watkins to COO, the promotion of Dr. Mark Brewer to senior vice president, Information Technologies and CIO, and the promotion of Brian Dexheimer to senior vice president, Product Line Management and Marketing for Seagate's desktop product line.
For Immediate Release For Further Information Contact:
SEAGATE NAMES DR. MARK H. KRYDER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND
DIRECTOR OF NEW RESEARCH DIVISION
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - August 24, 1998 - Further positioning itself to be
the technology leader in the information storage industry, Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) today announced that Dr. Mark H. Kryder has joined the Company as senior vice president and director, Seagate Research.
Dr. Kryder will be based at Seagate's new research facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will oversee internal research and development activities while also continuing the Company's partnerships with premier research universities worldwide. He will report directly to Tom Porter, Seagate's executive vice president and chief technical officer.
Dr. Kryder joins Seagate from Carnegie Mellon University where he was the Stephen J. Jatras University professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Data Storage Systems Center. He joined Carnegie Mellon in 1978 as an associate professor. In 1980 he was promoted to full professor and in 1982 he founded and became director of the industrially funded Magnetics Technology Center. Dr. Kryder was subsequently named director of the Engineering Research Center in Data Storage Systems when it was awarded to Carnegie Mellon University by the National Science Foundation in 1990. From 1973 to 1978 he was a member of the research staff and manager of Exploratory Bubble Devices at the IBM
T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. Before that, Dr.Kryder was a visiting scientist at the University of Regensburg in West Germany and a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology
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