Dr. Jeffrey Casady
President and Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Casady is a co-founder of SemiSouth, has over 20 years of semiconductor experience, and is a leader in the design and development of SiC power switches. After co-founding SemiSouth in 2000, Dr. Casady served as President and CEO from 2002-2007, growing total revenue from less than $1M to $9M over that time period. From 2007-2011, he served as CTO and VP of Business Development for SemiSouth, and developed many customers in wind, rail, automotive, and aerospace markets. In 2011, he returned to serving as President and CTO of SemiSouth. Prior to SemiSouth, he was a Mississippi State University faculty member working in SiC power transistor development from 1999-2003.
Prior to MSU, Dr. Casady worked as a Senior Engineer for Northrop Grumman on a number of key projects, including the development of high-frequency S-band and L-band SiC RF and power transistors for pulsed, narrow-band, high-power radar applications (both ground-based and airborne). He also worked on various SiC power devices such as thyristors, MOS field effect transistors, and diodes. Dr. Casady has published more than 80 papers and been awarded six patents, reached Senior Member status in IEEE in 2002, and was given a Leadership Award in 2008 by the Mississippi Technology Alliance. He has co-authored three book chapters, numerous magazine articles, and has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and a BS & MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri.
Robert Maddox
Chief Financial Officer
Prior to joining the Company in 2005, Mr. Maddox served as Vice President of Finance and Global Controller for Thermadyne Holdings Corporation, a $525 million multinational public manufacturing company headquartered in St. Louis, MO. During his 13 years there, he gained significant experience in merger, acquisition, and divestiture activities having worked on numerous transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $500 million. Mr. Maddox has experience in a variety of financing activities including public debt offerings, senior credit facilities, and leasing. Prior to joining Thermadyne, he served for seven years with the international accounting firm of Ernst & Young. Mr. Maddox, a CPA, earned a BA in Accounting from Oklahoma State.
Tom Moon
Senior Vice President of Operations
Mr. Moon has more than 20 years of high-tech operations management experience in both start-ups and large multinational manufacturing corporations. Prior to joining SemiSouth, Mr. Moon served as Vice President of Operations for a commercial aerospace company. Before that, he served as the North American Regional Director of Manufacturing Operations for STMicroelectronics. Mr. Moon has held various operational management roles at different companies including a joint venture between Texas Instruments and Hitachi Semiconductor known as TwinStar semiconductor. Mr. Moon holds an MBA and a BS in Industrial Engineering, and is an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP).
Janna Casady
Vice President of Operations
Ms. Casady has over 12 years of semiconductor experience. After joining SemiSouth in 2001, Ms. Casady served as a Device Engineer and Program/Product Manager from 2001 – 2006. During this timeframe she managed >$15M in contracts and was part of the team developing the key process technology flows for SemiSouth’s initial and current core products. From June 2006 – 2011, she served as Fab Operation Director and now VP of Operations. During this period she led the move into the new manufacturing facility, production development of SemiSouth’s first standard device diode and VJFET products, implementation of manufacturing systems, installation and process/ product qualification of >$18M in capital, and production ramp.
Ms. Casady has more than 15 publications, has been awarded four U.S. patents, was part of the SemiSouth team to be award the first ATP grant for the state of Mississippi, and was awarded the 2002 Missile Defense Fellowship (sponsored by the regional chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association). She received a BS & MS in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University.
Michele Grissett
Vice President of Human Resources
Ms. Grissett joined SemiSouth in 2001 and currently serves as the Company’s Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to serving in this role, she served as the Company’s Human Resources Manager or Director for 9 years. Her earlier experience includes a variety of human resources positions with Saks Incorporated. She received a bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a concentration in human resources management from Mississippi State University.
Dieter Liesabeths
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Mr. Liesabeths currently serves as a Vice President of Sales & Marketing and has over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor, display and crystal components industry. Prior to joining SemiSouth, he was a member of the board of Micro Crystal AG (a member of the Swatch Group) in Switzerland from 2008 – 2011 and he was in charge as a Vice President of Sales & Marketing for the worldwide business. From 1995 – 2008, Mr. Liesabeths served in various manager and director roles, most recently as Vice President of Sales & Marketing and member of the board of Epson Europe Electronics GMBH the European business of the Epson electronic component business. From 1992- 1995 he worked as a Sales Engineer for STMicroelectronics. Mr. Liesabeths holds a Dipl.-Ing.(TH) degree in Electronics Engineering.
Dr. Kevin Matocha
Vice President of Product Engineering
Prior to joining SemiSouth, Dr. Matocha spent 10 years at GE Global Research developing high-performance and harsh-environment silicon carbide devices. From 2008-2011, he lead General Electric’s efforts to commercialize SiC power MOSFETs. Dr. Matocha received the 2010 Albert N. Hull Award, GE’s highest honor awarded to early-career researchers. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by developing GaN MOS-based power devices. Dr. Matocha is a member of the IEEE and is past chair of the Schenectady section of the IEEE Electron Devices Society. He has published 75 technical presentations and publications and has been granted 12 patents.
John Nowak
Quality Systems Manager
Prior to joining SemiSouth, John had over 25 years of semiconductor processing engineering and quality systems experience. He has had varied leadership positions at Intel, Cypress Semiconductor, AMD, and Texas Instruments. He spent 13 years working at Intel as a Quality and Reliability Manager where he assisted in development of quality systems and led two factories to ISO 9000/14001 certifications. Prior to that, as an Operations Manager at Cypress Semiconductor in Texas, he co-directed the staff of the factory through a record startup and into sustained operations. John received a BS in physics from Cameron University and an MBA from St. Edwards University.
Dr. David Sheridan
Vice President of Technology Development
Dr. Sheridan has served as Director of Engineering since joining SemiSouth in March 2006 and has over 12 years of experience in the design and fabrication of SiC and wide bandgap power devices. Prior to joining SemiSouth, Dr. Sheridan was an Advisory Engineer at IBM Microelectronics in Burlington, Vermont where he was involved in the design and modeling of SiGe HBTs and other devices across several generations of IBM’s BiCMOS foundry technologies. Since joining SemiSouth, Dr. Sheridan has led the design and development efforts for SemiSouth’s power JFET and diode products. He has published over 60 technical journal and conference papers, 2 book chapters, and holds 14 US patents.
Brenda Temple
Director of Inside Sales & Contracts
Ms. Temple joined SemiSouth in 2004 and currently serves as Director of Inside Sales & Contracts overseeing direct communications between the company and its US & boarder international clients. She previously served as SemiSouth’s Senior Accountant and Contracts Administrator. Prior to joining SemiSouth, Ms. Temple served as Vice President / Commercial Lender for various US Banks for 10 years. She received her B.B.A from Mississippi State University.