Fister Leaves Intel for Cadence
By Ann Steffora Mutschler and Ed Sperling -- EDN, May 12, 2004
After five years as president and CEO, Ray Bingham handed over the reigns of Cadence Design Systems to self-proclaimed “gear-head” and former Intel executive Michael J. Fister.
Bingham will stay onboard full-time with new responsibilities and has been elected chairman of the Cadence board of directors. It has been long-suspected that Bingham did not have his heart in the game, sources said.
Bingham, however, argues otherwise. “I told Cadence a couple of years ago that I would be building a leadership team and talking to a lot of people,” he said. “I was not looking for a CEO, but I felt like we needed strong technology leadership. I can do everything I need to do as chairman.”
Bingham said he has known that to complete the strategy he outlined five years ago would take enterprise relationships with companies like IBM, Fujitsu and Philips, and lots of executive bandwidth. He said the goal from day one has been to build a bigger, more capable management team.
Bingham met Fister for the first time several months ago, and the two hit it off from the start. Fister has a strong background in technology while Bingham’s background is largely in business.
Fister joined Intel in 1987 and was appointed a VP in 1996, elected a corporate vice president in 2000 then promoted to senior VP in 2002. Most recently, Fister was a senior VP and general manager of the enterprise platforms group that is responsible for enterprise computing solutions. Fister is credited with increasing market share for in that segment as well as the successful launch of the Itanium processor family.
“I’ve built some of the most complex silicon the world has ever seen,” said Fister. “I’ve also seen sparks of technology coming from Cadence.”
Fister said he has no plans “to instantly change” the management team at Cadence, whom he described as “a good bunch.” But he added, “Ray and I will be on the lookout for people, partners and acquisitions.”
When considering the opportunity at Cadence, Fister said today on a conference call that because he is a “gear-head,” Cadence’s root technology was a big consideration and its potential for future growth. Additionally, he saw a “great synergy” in thinking between himself, Bingham and Cadence’s board of directors as to future direction of the company.
Specifically, Fister pointed to Cadence’s participation in an open systems framework, such as OpenAccess, as a “bold move” which could bring significant gains in market share and cross-industry presence.
Further, the new CEO said some of the moves Cadence has been making from a business perspective parallels the ones he had part responsibility for while at Intel regarding the IT industry, and that these approaches are a formula for success.
In addition to his new role as chairman of the board, Bingham said he will work closely with Fister to assure a smooth transition and continue to focus on the company’s global growth strategies, strengthen customer and partner relationships, shareholder and investor communications, and industry and public issues important to Cadence.
Bingham joined Cadence in 1993 and was executive VP and CFO until being appointed president and CEO in 1999. At that time, many close industry watchers believed Bingham was put in place following the ousting of Jack Harding to clean up Cadence’s financial situation, of which he has been largely successful. But in the last few years, EN sources noted his drooping motivation to lead Cadence.
Bingham also serves on the boards of directors of KLA-Tencor, Oracle Corp. and another small semiconductor company.
In the meantime, Intel replaced Fister with Abhijit Y. Talwalkar as VP and general manager of the enterprise platforms group (EPG), who was most recently VP of EPG and general manager of Intel’s platform products group.
Intel’s announcement read rather bitter sweetly as CEO Craig Barrett bid adieu to Fister. “Mike has made significant contributions throughout his career at Intel and we are sorry to see him leave. Under his leadership, Intel has become the leading supplier of components for enterprise systems worldwide. We thank him for his contributions and wish him well in his new position,” Barrett concluded.
