Neocera is led by a seasoned management team with extensive experience in the semiconductor industry and deep knowledge of thin film deposition technologies that underlay Neocera’s diverse product offerings.
T. Venkatesan
President, Founder & Board Member
T. Venkatesan, President, Founder & Board Member, is a world-renowned entrepreneur/scientist who invented the PLD process at Bell Labs/Bellcore, founded Neocera in 1989 to commercialize PLD and founded the Surface Modification Center at Rutgers University. He negotiated the license agreement for the magnetic imaging system from University of Maryland and has included this in Neocera’s product portfolio. He was a scientist/manager at Bell Labs/ Bellcore for 17 years followed by another 17 years as Professor of ECE and Physics at University of Maryland Center for Superconductivity research. Since 2008, he is the Director of the Nano Institute at the National University of Singapore. He has over 650 publications and 30 patents in the area of oxides and interfaces and has over 34,000 citations and an h factor of 95.
Drs. Wilbert van den Hoek
Executive Chairman
Drs. van den Hoek retired from Novellus Systems, Inc. in 2008. From 2005 till his retirement, he was President and CEO of Novellus Development Company, LLC, the venture arm of the company. From 1999 until 2005, he served as Chief Technical Officer and Executive Vice President, Integration and Advanced Development. In this role, he was responsible for setting the technical direction of the company and for managing the Corporate R&D and Integration organizations. He was also in charge of Corporate Business Development. From 2003 till 2005, he was also in charge of the Human Resource department and from 2003 till late 2006 he was acting head of the Legal department. From 1997 through 1999, he served as Group Vice President, Dielectrics and was also in charge of the Manufacturing organization of the company. From 1996 till 1997, he served as Vice President, HDP-CVD Business Unit. In May 1990 he joined the company for a three-year expatriate assignment in Japan as Director of Technology of Nippon Novellus Systems and was responsible for building an applications laboratory in Japan and for technical customer support in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. From January 1980 to May 1990, he held a variety of positions at the Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Sunnyvale, California. The last position Drs. van den Hoek held at Philips Research Laboratories was Group Manager of the Si Technology Research Group. Drs. van den Hoek currently serves as Executive Chairman of Neocera LLC, as chairman of Jiaco Instruments BV in Delft, The Netherlands, and as a member of the board of directors of Innovent Technologies, LLC, in Peabody, Massachusetts. Drs. van den Hoek graduated Cum Laude from the Rijks Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands in December 1979 with a Doctorandus degree in Chemistry. He is the author of >30 technical papers and holds 22 US patents.
Jerry Weinberg
CFO
Jerry Weinberg is the CFO/Treasurer at Neocera. He is in charge of the full cycle of accounting including day-to-day accounting operations; monthly, quarterly, and annually closing; financial reporting; financial investor information; cash flow budget; forecast/budget; auditing/tax; and FP&A. He is also responsible for company benefit administration including payroll and 401K management. Jerry brings more than 25 years of experience at companies across a diverse range of industries. Mr. Weinberg previously served as CFO with Communications Engineering, Inc., a broadcast and multi-media company. In this capacity, he was instrumental in expanding and diversifying CEI’s revenue stream, resulting in an increase of gross revenues from $25 million to $40 million. Prior to joining CEI, Jerry worked as CFO for Professional Products, Inc., a systems integration company where he played an integral role in computerizing the corporation’s operations and developing a sales incentive plan which helped increase the company’s annual sales from $30 million to $50 million. Jerry earned his BSBA degree at American University in Washington, D.C., and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Dr. Solomon Kolagani
General Manager, Thin Film Deposition Equipment
Dr. Solomon Kolagani is the General Manager of Thin Film Deposition Equipment. He works closely with a dynamic group of researchers and engineers in developing next generation PLD and PED products. He is also responsible for thin film product sales, both domestic and international. He has over 25 years of experience in various thin film process technologies and deposition tools, has authored over 50 research papers, holds 7 US Patents and has managed over 25 research programs funded by the US government. Dr. Kolagani has a PhD in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. Prior to joining Neocera in 1992, Dr. Kolagani worked at Bell Communications Research, NJ and also at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.