Power Integrations Inc. (San Jose, CA) announced key management changes, effective immediately. Balu Balakrishnan, former vice president of engineering and strategic marketing, has been named president and chief operating officer. In this position, Balakrishnan will be responsible for sales, marketing, operations, engineering and quality assurance. He will report directly to Howard Earhart, CEO and chairman of the board.
Balakrishnan joined Power Integrations in 1989, less than a year after the founding of the company, and has served the company in key engineering and business management roles since then. He is the chief inventor of the company's TOPSwitch and TinySwitch technologies and holds 27 patents. Balakrishnan holds an MSEE from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a BSEE from Bangalore University, India.
“When we decided to realign our organizational structure to better meet our future growth objectives Balu was the logical choice to fill the newly created position of president and COO," commented Howard Earhart, CEO. “Balu has a unique combination of technical, marketing and business skills that are evident in the success he and the team at Power Integrations have had at bringing innovative IC products to the market place. As we continue our efforts to accelerate new product development to maintain our market lead and to enter new markets, the strength and depth of our management team is critical," he continued.
Power Integrations also announced a new vice president of engineering. Derek Bell, former vice president of engineering for Synopsys Professional Services Group (Mountain View, CA), is joining the company as vice president of engineering. Bell's responsibilities will include overseeing the company's newly combined engineering and technology groups.
Other changes include the promotion of Tom Roesler to vice president of operations. Mr. Roesler joined the company from National Semiconductor (Santa Clara, CA) in 1999 and has served most recently as director of operations engineering.
