Halla to retire from National Semi

Company veteran Don Macleod will take over for Halla, becoming president and CEO.

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- Electronic News, 10/12/2009

Brian L Halla will retire as CEO of National Semiconductor Corp effective November 30, remaining executive chairman of the company. He then plans to retire from National's board at the end of the company's fiscal year 2010 in May, the 14th anniversary of his joining the company.

Halla (pictured) will be succeeded by Don Macleod, who will become the company's president and CEO and be appointed to its board effective November 30. Macleod, a more than 30-year National veteran, currently serves as the company's president and COO.

"Strongly deserved," said Halla in a statement Friday regarding Macleod's appointment. "This is 'the house that Donnie built' and he deserves to be its chief executive. I'll stay on through the 'rainy season' to make sure there are no leaks in the roof." 

Since joining National in 1978 from accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, Macleod has held several senior management positions at the Santa Clara, Calif-based analog company, including CFO for 10 years. He was appointed to the position of executive VP and COO in 2001 and to his current position of president and COO in 2005.

"National is a leader in analog semiconductor technology, and I am delighted to be given the opportunity to leverage that leadership and strong foundation for our new National 3.0 revenue-growth initiatives," said Macleod in the statement. 

The helm change comes after National in March announced plans to cut jobs and consolidate its manufacturing operations as it looked to reduce overall expenses and shift more of its R&D investments toward new and emerging growth opportunities. The announcement also comes after National in its most recent fiscal quarter (fiscal Q1 2010 ended August 30) reported $314 million in sales and earnings per share of $0.13, both showing quarter-over-quarter growth. The growth was attributed to better than expected demand for its analog products, especially from distributors serving broad industrial markets. National forecasted continuing sequential growth for its current quarter in September.

National gave no details on Halla's plans post his May retirement. The EE is on the board of Cisco Systems, the IEEE Noyce Award Committee, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Halla, an executive with experience at LSI and Intel and also on the SIA board, further serves on the advisory boards at the University of California at Berkeley's Engineering school and the University of Nebraska Engineering College, from which he received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.