Team
Rainer Cholewa
President and CEO
Rainer joined SMI in October 2007 as President and CEO, after being a senior consultant to ELMOS Semiconductor AG since December 2006.
Before joining SMI, he has been Managing Director and Member of the Executive Board at CTR AG (Carinthian Technology Research AG) in Austria. He holds a degree in Technical Physics from the Technical University of Graz, where he worked one year at the Institute of Experimental Physics. His professional experience comes from roles at Voest-Alpine AG in Linz, the Siemens electronic device production location in Villach, and Siemens AG in Munich. He managed the production Joint Venture of IBM and Siemens in St. Denis near Paris. From 1997 to 1999 he was leading the contract negotiations between Siemens/Infineon and IBM, and then has been appointed General Manager of the Joint Venture Altis/SC in France.
Dr. Michael Doelle
Test and Design Engineering Manager
Michael joined SMI in 2006. His current responsibilities are the design and testing of pressure sensors in MEMS.
He studied Microsystems Technology at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and received the diploma engineering degree in 2002. His diploma thesis was entitled "Piezo Field Effect Transistors". In 2002, he joined the Microsystems Materials Laboratory at IMTEK, Freiburg (Germany) where he graduated with a Ph.D. degree with work on “Field Effect Transistor Based CMOS Stress Sensors”. He is co-author of more than 20 scientific papers.
Holger Doering
VP Operations
Holger joined SMI in 2007 as a consultant in Operations and took over the responsibility for Production, Process-Engineering, IT, Materials-Management, Equipment and Facilities beginning of 2008 from Ted Conely.
He started at ELMOS in 1995 as a process engineer and had the first management function in 1997 as Production Engineering Manager. With the introduction of the module-organization in 1999 he was responsible for Production, Process Engineering and Equipment of the Plasma-Module.
In 2003 he started the 0.8µm Process Transfer from the 6inch FAB in Dortmund to the 8inch line of the Cooperation with the Fraunhofer IMS in Duisburg and became in 2005 responsible for the 8inch production in Duisburg.
Holger holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dortmund (Germany) with a focus on Semiconductor Manufacturing. He performed his diploma thesis at ELMOS in 1994 with the scope to develop a CMOS compatible process module to produce monolithic integrated piezoresistive pressure sensors within a European project.
Beatrice Duarte
QA and Reliability Manager
Beatrice joined SMI in 2000. She offers 10 years of quality experience in various fields in the semiconductor business.
Before joining SMI, Beatrice accomplished the implementation of ISO-9000 standards at two companies and at SMI, she accomplished the TS-16949:2000 implementation
Paul Kamper
Quality Director
Paul joined SMI in October 2007 as the Quality Director.
Before joining SMI Paul has worked 12 years in the automotive industry. He has been working in different functions in the production and quality department in Germany and in France. He has been production manager, French-customer- and supplier interface to the German production site, French-Customer-Quality-Customer-Service and Project manager.
Paul holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Fachhochschule Augsburg and a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.
Dr. Dirk O. Keck
VP of Sales & Marketing
Dirk is with SMI since 2006 as VP of Sales and Marketing. He joined ELMOS Semiconductor AG, the parent company of SMI in 2002 as an assistant to the chairman of the executive board. Prior to joining SMI, he has initiated the ELMOS Microsystems group.
Before joining ELMOS, he worked for a leading management consultancy, mainly for clients in the high-tech, semiconductor and automotive electronics business.
He holds a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Stuttgart (Germany) since 2001, and a diploma degree in electrical engineering from the same University.
Dr. Nicole Kerness
VP of Product Engineering
Nicole is responsible for Product Engineering at SMI, which includes product development, design, and test. She joined the company in 2003 as a Strategic Program Manager on several key projects.
Prior to joining SMI Nicole was a post-doctorate at Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering / MEMS from Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland (2003). During her PhD she specialized in CMOS based chemical microsensors. In between MS and PhD Nicole worked at Lockheed Martin Federal Systems in upstate NY as a staff engineer in MEMS and system reliability in radiation environments. She received an M.S. degree in Nuclear Science and Engineering from Cornell University (1995) and a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1992).
Marc Konradt
Process Engineering Manager
Marc joined SMI in 2006 as a Process Engineering Manager, after working for ELMOS Semiconductor AG, the parent company of SMI, since 2000 as a process engineer.
He holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dortmund (Germany), with a focus on Semiconductor Manufacturing. During his studies he worked on a project to create optical switches using Si micromachining and on the development of sub 100nm transistor structures in a CMOS compatible process flow. His diploma thesis was entitled: "Introduction and improvement of new cleaning processes with ozone and spiked chemicals for the industrial semiconductor manufacturing"
Michael Planer
Equipment and Facilities Manager
Mike joined SMI in 2004 bringing with him 25 years of wafer fabrication engineering experience in CMOS, disk drive, GaAs, and optical ICs. Mike is responsible for Equipment Engineering and Maintenance, Information Technology and Facilities. He has published several articles and has 2 patents to his credit. Mike is also a former member Union Sanitary District’s Industrial Advisory Board. Mike holds a degree in Environmental Engineering.
Thomas Santilena
Finance Controller
Thomas Santilena joined SMI in 2001. Thomas offers 30 years of Chief Accountant / Controller experience. His background is rooted primarily in Manufacturing and Wholesale Industries.
Tony Shen
Production Manager
Tony joined SMI in 2007 as a Production Manager. He has over 20 years experience in product manufacturing, assembly and testing areas and worked for various companies in Silicon Valley.
Tony holds a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Utah State University. During his M.S. Studies he specialized in CNC and Automation Control.
Sandy Taylor
HR Manager
Sandy is responsible for leading SMI’s human resources efforts, including: compensation, benefits, staffing, employee relations, training, and compliance. Sandy has an extensive HR background that includes 18 years of previous experience in all facets of human resources. Sandy joined SMI in 2007.
Prior to assuming her current role, Sandy held leadership positions in various manufacturing, semiconductor, hard drive, and telecommunication companies. Her experience ranged from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
Sandy has an MBA from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor’s degree from Union University in Tennessee. She is an active member of numerous professional organizations, including: Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), Women in Technology International (WITI), Northern California Human Resources Council (NCHRC), Peninsula Compensation Association (PCA), and Bay Area Human Resources Forum (BARF).
Dr. Steve Terry
Director of Technology
Steve joined Silicon Microstructures in 2002 and currently serves as the Director of Technology. He is leading a process development group with the goal of bringing new MEMS processes and designs to a wide variety of products for both SMI and its MEMS customers.
He received his B. S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970 and M. S. E. E. and Ph. D. degrees from Stanford University in 1971 and 1975 respectively. At Stanford, his pioneering work in silicon micromachining was the integration of a gas chromatography system on a single wafer of silicon. After he left Stanford, Steve founded Microsensor Technology to commercialize the miniature gas chromatograph. He later joined IC Sensors as Director of R&D where he lead the expansion of the pressure sensor product line, and the successful design and development of MEMS devices including accelerometers for airbags and inertial guidance, miniature silicon valves, pressure sensor arrays, optical switches and fiber alignment chips, and strain gages.
