CEO Monthly August 2017

16 CEO MONTHLY / AUGUST 2017 , keen to tell us about the firm’s approach when undertaking a new client or project. “Dr. Joseph Monkowski, the founder of Pivotal Systems and perhaps the best technologist I have ever had the pleasure to work with, shared my passion for ‘working with technology leaders and solving the tough problems’. To do this, you must build relationships with the key customers and never, ever lose their trust. Customer trust is the key ingredient to our growth. “This is a great topic because it goes to the heart of any successful business. As a supplier, you must understand your customers’ business as well as your own. If you do not, you can often be led into projects that seem to be strategic but somehow, they fall flat. I have found over the years, that the best way to truly get a ‘gut feel’ about taking on a project or a new client requires plenty of face-to-face meetings and a meal or two with your potential partner. Good leaders know that their people are their most Pivotal Systems is the critical process gas flow control technology leader in the $300 billion global semiconductor industry. We interviewed the firm’s CEO, JohnHoffman to find out more about his career background and role as a leader, following their inclusion in the 2017 Global CEO Top 100. A CEO in the Global Semiconductor Industry Pivotal Systems global HQ is in Fremont, California. They have offices in Europe, Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore and Korea as well as manufacturing centres in the United States, China and Korea. Pivotal Systems has developed the most advanced gas flow control technology in the world. Their products are installed on leading semiconductor process tools, to include Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron and Advanced Manufacturing Equipment Company (AMEC). Pivotal Systems was the INC 500 Fastest Growing Engineering Company in 2015 and the company has won multiple Global Red Herring Awards for Innovation. The firm’s John Hoffman reveals more to us and shares his career background, prior to achieving his current position of senior leadership. “These multi-million dollar process tools have been installed in the leading semiconductor device manufactures around the world including Samsung, TSMC, Winbond, UMC, SONY, Texas Instruments and SK Hynix. In each case, our goal is to enable our customers to be far more productive by using our flow control products. Ultimately, we enable them to provide better products at a lower cost to their customers. One of our top priorities is to make our customers successful as we believe our success will follow. “I started in the global semiconductor industry as a first line manager at Applied Materials. Over my many years there I was very fortunate to work with some of the great technologists and leaders in the industry. James Morgan, Chairman and CEO, Dan Maydan, President, Sass Somekh, Joe Bronson and David N.K. Wang all took a personal interest in my development and continually provided me opportunities to grow. “This included establishing offices in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and China in the early 1990’s. It also included living in Israel, while merging two acquisitions. It included being the general manager of several business groups over the years. These mentors also gave me the freedom to serve on outside boards of directors, to gain further experience. “After Applied Materials restructured in 2005, I was offered the opportunity to be the CEO of a growing private company, RagingWire Enterprise Solutions. While there, I was fortunate to work with a group of fantastic technologists and business executives. RagingWire was constantly completing major capital projects, to keep pace with their extraordinary growth. I enjoyed my time there and in 2011 I could get back into the semiconductor industry, by becoming the CEO of Pivotal Systems.” John adds that all his experience at Applied Materials, working with leading semiconductor customers, was a huge help in shaping Pivotal to be a technology leader. He then is 1707CE03