Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”),
a manufacturer of innovative single crystal Bulk ONE™ RF filters for
mobile wireless, announced today the election of three new members to
its Board of Directors (the “Board”): Jerry D. Neal, Arthur E. Geiss,
and Jeff K. McMahon.
“Akoustis is pleased to welcome three extremely talented and highly
qualified leaders to our Board,” said Jeff Shealy, Akoustis Chairman and
CEO. “Jerry Neal is an accomplished entrepreneur who co-founded RFMD
(now Qorvo) and established many of the customer relationships enabling
the company to grow to surpass $1B in revenues. Arthur Geiss is an
extraordinary executive who previously served as VP of Operations at
RFMD, establishing one of the world’s largest wafer manufacturing
footprints for mobile wireless RF front-ends. Jeff McMahon is a seasoned
executive in financial management and business strategy with experience
from The North Highland Co. and Accenture, from which he brings focus on
revenue growth and risk management.”
“The addition of 4G/LTE in mobile smartphones has driven a sharp
increase in demand of high performance RF acoustic wave filters to
support convergence of voice and data in a single wireless device,” said
Jerry Neal. “Akoustis’ single crystal resonator filter technology offers
the promise of lower loss RF filters, which ultimately enables longer
battery life for smartphones.”
Prior to joining the Board, Mr. Neal co-founded RFMD (now Qorvo) in 1991
and served as its Executive Vice President of Marketing and Strategic
Development until 2012. Mr. Neal was instrumental in establishing the
corporate branding of RFMD, negotiating strategic alliances with key
customers, suppliers and technology partners. He has also served on
numerous semiconductor boards and has been recognized by both industry
and governmental agencies for his contributions and leadership. Prior to
RFMD, he spent 10 years at Analog Devices, Inc. Jerry is currently the
CEO and owner of Linbrook Heritage Estate, a 500 acre Agritourism
business in Trinity, NC.
Arthur Geiss is currently the Manager of AEG Consulting, LLC, which
offers guidance concerning manufacturing, operations, and process
development to technology companies. Prior to establishing AEG
Consulting, Dr. Geiss served as VP Wafer Fab Operations at RFMD (now
Qorvo). He was responsible for the start-up and operations of Gallium
Arsenide epitaxial-growth and wafer-fabrication. Prior to RFMD, Dr.
Geiss held management positions with Alpha Industries, Inc. (purchased
by Skyworks Solutions, Inc.) and ITT’s Gallium Arsenide Technology
Center (purchased by Cobham plc). He earned a B.S. degree at Lafayette
College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Brown University, all in physics.
Jeff McMahon is a Managing Director at The North Highland Company, a
global management consulting firm, and is currently the Market Lead for
North Highland’s largest market. He has 20 years experience in business
and information technology consulting where he assists Fortune 100
companies to drive revenue, optimize processes, improve customer
experience and manage risk. His areas of expertise include marketing,
strategy articulation and realization, strategic execution, business
process management and merger integration. Prior to joining North
Highland, Mr. McMahon was a Manager in Accenture's process practice
area. Mr. McMahon received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from North
Carolina State University.
About Akoustis
Akoustis™ (www.akoustis.com)
is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that manufactures its unique,
patent-pending Bulk ONE™ technology to produce single-crystal bulk
acoustic wave (BAW) filters for the mobile-wireless industry. Akoustis’
“fabless” business model is capital efficient, leveraging existing
manufacturing infrastructure in the semiconductor industry. Founded in
2014, Akoustis™ is located in the Piedmont technology corridor between
Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical
facts are forward-looking statements that are based on management’s
current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and
uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking
statements by terminology including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,”
“continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,”
“potential,” “predicts,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of
these terms or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated
include, without limitation,
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risks relating to the results of our research and development
activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process
manufacturing;
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the early stage of our Bulk ONE™ technology presently under
development;
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our need for substantial additional funds in order to continue our
operations and the uncertainty of whether we will be able to obtain
the funding we need;
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our ability to retain or hire key scientific, engineering or
management personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual property
rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other
intellectual property rights;
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our dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, research
organizations, testing laboratories and other potential collaborators;
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our ability to successfully market and sell our technologies;
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the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our
technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of
our technologies;
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competition in our industry; and
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regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries.
In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the
forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances
discussed in this press release may not occur, and actual results could
differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the
forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking
statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking
statements included in this presentation speak only as of the date
hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to
update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements for any
reason after the date of this presentation to conform these statements
to actual results or to changes in our expectations.
THESE MATERIALS DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE
SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO BUY, ANY SECURITIES OF AKOUSTIS, INC., OR
OF ANY OTHER ENTITY WHATSOEVER. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE
CONTRARY BY ANY PARTY SHOULD BE IGNORED.
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