Thomas R. Mika
President and Chief Executive Officer
Thomas R. Mika was appointed our President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2005 and appointed Chairman of the Board in October 2006. Mr. Mika has more than 25 years of senior management, finance and consulting experience. Serving on our Board of Directors for ten years from 1992 to 2002, which included periods of service as the Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee, until he was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2002, Mr. Mika played a key role in company management, including managing the activities leading to our initial public offering in 1995. Prior to becoming our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Mika founded IMTEC, a boutique investment firm active in the management of several companies. In addition to completing multiple private equity financings, joint ventures, acquisitions and license agreements on behalf of his clients, he held senior positions with Soupmasters International, Inc., where he served as President & CEO, and Disc International, Ltd., a software firm, where he served as Chief Executive. Mr. Mika was also a director of Metrologix, a semiconductor metrology company, from the time of its initial start-up until its sale to KLA-Tencor Corp. Prior to forming IMTEC, Mr. Mika was a managing consultant with Cresap, McCormick & Paget and a policy analyst for the National Science Foundation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.
Christine Hergenrother
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer
Christine Hergenrother was appointed our Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer in March 2005. Prior to that, Ms. Hergenrother served as our Director of Corporate Development since June 2004, with principal responsibility for Sarbanes-Oxley and general SEC compliance matters. Between September 2002 and March 2004, Ms. Hergenrother was the Corporate Controller of Amarin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From February 1997 until September 2002, Ms. Hergenrother held various positions within the finance department of Tegal. Prior to Tegal, she was a senior accountant at Mindscape Inc. and a staff auditor at the firm of Pisenti & Brinker, LLP. Ms. Hergenrother holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Illinois State University. Ms. Hergenrother is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of CPA’s.
Dr. Robert Ditizio
Chief Technologist
Robert has been with Tegal Corporation from 1992 to the present developing and overseeing the development of advanced processes and hardware for the semiconductor capital equipment industry in roles as Senior Process Engineer, Staff Engineer, Applications Manager, and most recently as Senior Director of R&D and IP Manager. He has been granted seven US patents pertaining to dry etch hardware and MRAM processing, with three additional US patents pending for work in MRAM processing, through-silicon-vias, and conformal thin film deposition. Robert has published over 30 articles in journals, conference proceedings, and trade industry magazines on topics ranging from semiconductor device damage, hydrogen passivation, integrated MRAM processing, process modeling, dry etching, and thin film deposition. Robert holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Penn State University and an MBA from Sonoma State University.
