Power-One, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Richard J. Thompson to serve as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He succeeds William T. Yeates, who has resigned from the company and its Board of Directors to pursue other personal interests.
Thompson has over 30 years of management, operations, and finance experience in electronics, computers, semiconductors and energy companies. He was appointed to Power-One’s Board of Directors in August of 2007. Most recently, Thompson has been a consultant to private equity firms. Previously, he was Chief Financial Officer of American Power Conversion (APC), a $2 billion provider of real-time computing and data center infrastructure products and services (APC was acquired by Schneider Electric SA in February 2007). Before joining APC, Thompson was CFO of Artesyn Technologies, a leading provider of power electronics, where he also held operations and general management positions.
Thompson will continue to serve as a member of Power-One’s Board of Directors.
"Rich Thompson brings to our company the ideal set of skills and strategic insight required to leverage Power-One’s global scale and product breadth into the sustainable, profitable growth needed to drive shareholder value," said Jay Walters, Chairman, on behalf of the Board of Directors. "We are excited to attract a leader with Rich’s expertise in the power industry and his successful track record of optimizing cost structures across global organizations. The Company and the Board of Directors thank Bill for all of his contributions over the past seven years and wish him well."
Thompson commented, "Power-One is a global leader in the power industry with an outstanding technology portfolio and talented employees responsible for the company’s innovative products. I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead the company and I am eager to build on our strong position in the markets we serve." He continued, "I look forward to achieving sustainable profitability while continuing to offer our customers the most reliable and cost-effective power solutions in the market."
