Board of Directors
David K. Chao has been a director of Spansion Inc. since 2005. Mr. Chao is a co-founder of Doll Capital Management (DCM) a venture capital firm based in the Silicon Valley and has been a managing general partner since 1996. Prior to DCM, Mr. Chao was a co-founder and member of the board of directors of Japan Communications, Inc. Before co-founding Japan Communications, Mr. Chao worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and as a marketing manager at Apple Computer. Prior to these positions, he was an account executive for Recruit, a Japanese human resources, advertising and services company.
Mr. Chao serves on the boards of numerous DCM portfolio companies, including 51job, Inc,where he has served since 2000.
He is a management board member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Board of Trustees and a member of The Thacher School Board of Trustees.
Mr. Chao received a bachelor’s degree in economics and East Asian studies from Brown University and a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University.
Dr. Boaz Eitan has been a director of Spansion* since 2008. Dr. Eitan founded Saifun Semiconductors Ltd., which Spansion acquired in early 2008. He previously was Saifun’s Chief Executive Officer.
Boaz is the inventor of Saifun NROM technology. Prior to Saifun, Dr. Eitan managed the Israeli design center of WaferScale Integration Inc., a design center he established in 1992. Additionally, Dr. Eitan held various positions at WaferScale Integration Inc., including Vice President of Product and Technology Development, as well as served as a physicist at Intel’s research and development center in Santa Clara, California.
Dr. Eitan received his doctorate and M.Sc. in Applied Physics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and his B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Dr. Boaz Eitan is the author of 83 issued U.S. patents and 43 pending U.S. patent applications.
*An officer of a Spansion foreign legal entity.
John H. Kispert, CEO, joined Spansion with 15 years experience in the semiconductor industry, with a broad-based background spanning executive, financial and operational roles. Most recently, Kispert spent 13 years in a number of finance and operational roles at KLA-Tencor including President, Chief Operations Officers and Chief Financial Officer. During his tenure at KLA-Tencor, a leading semiconductor equipment company with more than $2.5 billion in revenue and a global workforce of more than 6,000 employees, Kispert played an instrumental role in several of the company's most critical initiatives including operational and organizational restructuring following the 1997 merger between KLA Instruments and Tencor Instruments. Kispert also held various executive management positions at KLA-Tencor including Vice President of Operations with responsibility for customer service and support, manufacturing, and sales operations. Prior to KLA-Tencor Kispert held several senior management positions with IBM.
Kispert received his Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Grinnell College and his MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. His appointment at Spansion follows the resignation of president and CEO Bertrand Cambou.
Donald L. Lucas has been a director of Spansion Inc. since September 2007. Mr. Lucas received his B.A. degree from Stanford University in 1951 and his M.B.A. degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1953. After serving two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Mr. Lucas worked in the Corporate Finance Department of Smith, Barney and Co. in New York from 1955-1959.
In 1960, Mr. Lucas became an associate of Draper, Gaither & Anderson. Subsequently, he was both a general and limited partner. Draper, Gaither & Anderson’s holdings were quite profitably distributed to the general and limited partners at the end of 1966.
Since 1967, Mr. Lucas has been actively engaged in venture capital activities as a private individual. He has been a director of Oracle since March 1980 and currently serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee. He is a director of Cadence Design Systems, Inc., and Chairman of the Board of DexCom, Inc., and 51job Inc. Mr. Lucas also serves as a director of several privately held companies.
John M. Stich has been a director since December 2006. He is the Honorary Consul General of Japan at Dallas. Previously, he spent 35 years at Texas Instruments, with his most recent position as chief marketing officer in Japan. He lived and worked for Texas Instruments in Asia for a total of 24 years where he held various additional management positions such as vice president of semiconductors for Texas Instruments Asia Ltd., managing director of Texas Instruments Hong Kong Ltd., and marketing director of Texas Instruments Taiwan Limited.
Mr. Stich has been active in leading various industry associations, including serving as: governor of the American Chambers of Commerce in Japan and Hong Kong, and chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (Japan Chapter). Currently, he is a director of Stonestreet One, Inc., a leading provider of short-range wireless solutions, and Diodes Incorporated, a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality discrete and analog semiconductors. In addition, he is a member of the Dallas/Taipei Sister City Committee, a member of the Advisory Council for Southern Methodist University's Asian Studies Program, a director of the Japan America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth, vice dean of the Consular Corps of Dallas/Fort Worth and a member of the Pastoral Council of Prince of Peace church.
Mr. Stich holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University.