CHANDLER, Ariz., January 12, 2016 - Isola Group, a market leader in copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepreg materials used to fabricate advanced multilayer Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), announced today that its board of directors has appointed Jeff Waters as president and CEO, effective immediately. Waters succeeds Interim CEO Jeffery McCreary, who was brought in to enable leadership continuity after Ray Sharpe’s retirement in August 2015. McCreary will continue to serve on Isola’s board of directors, a position he has held since 2006.
Waters brings 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, having held senior leadership positions at Altera, Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor. As senior vice president and general manager of Altera’s business units, Waters was responsible for $1.7B in revenue across the company’s product lines, including development of high growth data center and automotive markets.
Isola board members John Marren, Partner at TPG Capital and Jordon Kruse, Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager at Oaktree Capital Management, acknowledged, “Under Mr. McCreary’s leadership, the executive team initiated a series of essential directives focused on cost reduction, improved process effectiveness and organization realignment. We are very excited to have Jeff Waters join Isola to extend the company’s transformation. We are confident in Mr. Waters’ ability to lead the company to accelerated growth.”
McCreary added, “The board was extremely impressed by the outstanding candidates we evaluated. More importantly, the board unanimously agreed that Mr. Waters stood out among them. It is clear that Mr. Waters’ experience and attributes align perfectly with Isola’s refined strategic direction.”
"With its strong history of technology leadership and its worldwide manufacturing and R&D presence, Isola has differentiated assets that have enabled customers in their push for higher speed, higher density and higher temperature products," Waters stated. "I feel privileged to lead the talented group of professionals at Isola as we take the company to greater levels of new product execution, customer engagement and financial performance."
About Jeff Waters
Jeff Waters has 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, most recently with Altera Corporation where he served as senior vice president and general manager for the company’s business units, with P&L and growth responsibility for each of its product lines. Prior to Altera, Waters was with Texas Instruments / National Semiconductor for 18 years in executive positions including division vice president, vice president of sales and marketing for Japan, vice president of worldwide marketing, and a variety of engineering management and manufacturing roles. In addition to his time at National, Mr. Waters was a board member for the Global Semiconductor Association, and held positions in management consulting and in research and development. He holds a BSEE from the University of Notre Dame, an MSEE from Santa Clara University, and an MBA from Northwestern University.