Keynote Speaker: M. George Craford, Chief Technology Officer, Philips LumiLeds Lighting Company

Title: Lighting Your Path to the Future

Dr. Craford obtained a Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Illinois in 1967. He began his professional career as a research physicist at Monsanto Chemical Company, and became Technical Director of the Electronics Division, before joining the Hewlett Packard Company in 1979.  He is currently the Chief Technology Officer of Philips LumiLeds Lighting Company. His research has been mainly focused on the development of visible LEDs using a variety of compound semiconductor materials. He developed nitrogen-doped GaAsP technology in the early 1970s, which became one of the dominant commercial LED technologies. At Hewlett Packard, Dr. Craford’s group pioneered the development of AlInGaP LEDs, and also developed AlGaAs and InGaN products.  He is a fellow of the IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has received technical achievement awards from a variety of organizations and received the 2002 National Medal of Technology from the President of the United States. 

Speaker: Risto Puhakka, President, VLSI Research Inc.

Title: Current Semiconductor Forecast and Leading Indicators

As President of VLSI Research Inc., Risto Puhakka has responsibility for subscription services, sales, marketing, and business development.  Mr. Puhakka oversees and contributes to ongoing research projects and also spearheads product launches.  He manages VLSI’s advisory activities and regularly supplies advice and analysis to leading companies in the chip making industry, the financial community, the press, as well as various government agencies. Joining VLSI in 1995, Mr. Puhakka has been an important contributor to VLSI’s success. Starting as a senior analyst in Chip Making Markets, he has expanded his role through all critical positions within the company. He has served as President since 2004. Mr. Puhakka’s prior experience includes sales, marketing, and engineering activities with a global capital equipment manufacturer in Finland. He has earned his MBA from UC Berkeley and MS in Mining and Process Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology in Finland.

Speaker: Mark Harney, Chief Technical Officer, US Display Consortium

Title: The US Display Consortium Program on Flexible, Printed, and Organic Electronics

Dr. Mark Hartney joined USDC in June 2007 as Chief Technical Officer.  As CTO, Mark manages all technical activities of the USDC, including:  working with industry on the proposal and selection process of technical projects; management of project contracts; communication with government sponsors; chairing the USDC Technical Council; and all other activities involved with fulfilling the organization’s technical mission. 

Prior to this, Mark worked at Silicon Image, a video semiconductor manufacturer in a variety of technical marketing and business development roles, and at dpiX, a display and sensor company in similar roles. He is also a principal in Table Talk Consulting.

From 1992 to 1996, Mark worked in a variety of positions in Washington DC executing federal policy and managed projects on both semiconductor manufacturing and displays, at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).   Mark also previously held research and development positions at MIT Lincoln Labs and AT&T Bell Labs.

Mark is a graduate of MIT (B.S. and M.S.) and earned his doctoral degree at University of California at Berkeley, all in chemical engineering.  He has over 60 technical publications, 100 conference presentations and 4 issued patents.