Technology >> CEO Interviews >> June 21, 2004
JAMES M. THORBURN joined ZiLOG, Inc., in March 2001 as President and
Chief Executive Officer to execute the company's strategic plan. He was
named Chairman of ZiLOG's Board of Directors in 2002. He brings more
than 20 years of semiconductor industry experience with a background in
strategy, finance, international operations, IPOs, leverage buyouts,
divestitures and acquisitions. Mr. Thorburn leads and supports the ZiLOG
team with aggressive focus, commitment and passion to successfully
create shareholder value by providing analog, mixed signal and
microcontroller solutions in the networking, connecting, wireless,
consumer and industrial markets. Prior to joining ZiLOG as Chairman and
CEO, he served as Chief Operating Officer and shared the Office of the
President of TPG sister company, ON Semiconductor, from June 1999 to
March 2001. As COO of ON Semiconductor, he helped in the buyout of ON,
established the business focus, managed the day-to-day operations,
crafted the strategy and acquired Cherry Semiconductor. He also led the
company's transformation from a division of Motorola through a spinout
and, ultimately, to a successful, independent public company. ON went
public on NASDAQ in April 2000 and was the largest semiconductor buyout
and IPO in Wall Street history. Mr. Thorburn also serves as a consultant
to Texas Pacific Group. Prior to ON Semiconductor, Mr. Thorburn's career
spanned 17 years at National Semiconductor where he served as Vice
President of Operations Finance. He also managed the financial needs for
National's Communications and Computing Group, Analog Division and
European Operations. He is credited with implementing a culture of
operational excellence that resulted in gross operating profit and the
company's positive financial performance. In addition, he played an
integral role in numerous acquisitions and divestitures, including the
successful spinout of Fairchild Semiconductor. Mr. Thorburn has also
orchestrated a number of significant business turnarounds and
reorganizations including the Analog Group at National Semiconductor,
ZiLOG and ON Semiconductor. In addition, he has received recognition
from the APQC in Houston for developing innovative, strategic planning
processes. He holds an Honors degree in Science and Economics from the
University of Glasgow, Scotland, and is a qualified Chartered
Accountant. Profile
Mr. Thorburn: ZiLOG is a $100 million plus semiconductor company, and
we're focused on microcontrollers. Microcontrollers are 8-bit chips with
memory and ports ' basically
