SIA elects Xilinx’s Roelandts to chairman

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 11/16/2007

The Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) board of directors this week elected Willem (“Wim”) P. Roelandts, chairman, president and CEO of Xilinx, as its 2008 board chairman and Hector de J. Ruiz, chairman and CEO of AMD, was elected vice chairman.

Roelandts succeeds Richard Templeton, Texas Instruments’ president and CEO.

George Scalise, president of the SIA said in a statement, “Wim Roelandts and Hector Ruiz bring many years of leadership in the microelectronics industry to the positions of chairman and vice chairman of the SIA board. That experience will be invaluable as the semiconductor industry continues its efforts to secure additional funding for university research, immigration and education reform to ensure access to a highly skilled workforce, and tax reform to level the global playing field.”

Scalise continued, “On behalf of the entire SIA board of directors, I want to thank Rich Templeton for his leadership in 2007. Rich has been a tireless advocate for our innovation agenda. Under Rich’s leadership, we have made great progress toward building a broad bipartisan consensus on public policy initiatives to enhance U.S. competitiveness, but much remains to be done.”

Roelandts added, “Leadership in innovation is the key to leadership in technology. The SIA public policy agenda is focused on ensuring that the U.S. has a business climate that encourages and supports innovation. I welcome the opportunity to be a spokesman for our innovation agenda.”

In August, Roelandts said he intends to retire from the positions of president and CEO, but remain chairman.
A Xilinx spokesperson confirmed this appointment does not change Roelandts’ plans.