Skyworks Solutions has announced the appointment of Liam K. Griffin as CEO. Mr. Griffin was also elected to the board of directors of Skyworks effective May 11, 2016. David J. Aldrich, Skyworks current CEO since 2000, will assume a newly established role of executive chairman and, in that position, will continue to serve as the chairman of Skyworks’ board of directors.
Skyworks has substantially outpaced the broader semiconductor market: growing the top line at a 25 percent annual rate from $1.1 billion in fiscal 2010 to over $3.2 billion in fiscal 2015. In parallel, the company has maintained a rigorous leadership succession planning process to ensure the organization continues to follow this path of success going forward.
As executive chairman, Mr. Aldrich, 59, will devote his time to supporting the management transition and working with the leadership team to develop Skyworks’ long term strategy. Mr. Aldrich has served as CEO of Skyworks and its predecessor Alpha Industries, since 2000. During that time, annual company revenue grew from $126 million in 1999, when he became president and chief operating officer, to over $3.2 billion as of fiscal 2015, while operating income increased 7,477 percent.
Mr. Griffin, 49, joined Skyworks in August 2001 as head of sales and marketing. Since that time his responsibilities have continuously expanded with his leadership of Skyworks’ business units, R&D efforts and operations. In 2011, he was promoted to executive vice president and in May 2014 was named company president. Mr. Griffin has been a key architect of the company’s strategy to cement its leadership position in mobile communications while diversifying across the Internet of Things.
Before joining Skyworks, Mr. Griffin was the vice president of worldwide sales at Dover Corporation and held product management and process engineering positions at AT&T's Microelectronics and Network Systems’ businesses. Mr. Griffin received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University.
