T. J. Rodgers
T. J. Rodgers | |
---|---|
Born | Thurman John Rodgers March 15, 1948 Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S.[1] |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Dartmouth College, 1970 B.A. Stanford University, 1973 M.A. 1975 Ph.D. |
Occupation(s) | Scientist and entrepreneur |
Spouse | Valeta Massey[1] |
Thurman John "T. J." Rodgers (born March 15, 1948)[1] is an American billionaire scientist and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Cypress Semiconductor and holds patents ranging from semiconductors to energy to winemaking. Rodgers is known for his public relations acumen, brash personality, and strong advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism. He stepped down as Cypress CEO in April 2016 and Director in August 2016 after serving for 34 years.[2]
Early life
Rodgers was born on March 15, 1948, in
Career
After finishing a doctorate at Stanford, he turned down a job offer from
Cypress Semiconductor
Rodgers founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982 and served as founding CEO.
Proxy fight
In 2017 Rodgers conducted a successful proxy fight against Cypress. He raised concerns pertaining to director compensation,[11] state-sponsored foreign competition[12] as well as inherent conflicts of interest.[13] After filing a lawsuit against the company in April 2017, Rodgers sought to remove executive chairman Ray Bingham and Éric Benhamou from the Cypress board and nominated Dan McCranie and Camillo Martino as directors.[14] Rodgers argued that Bingham's role as a co-founder of Canyon Bridge,[15] a private equity fund supported by the Government of China,[13] constituted a clear conflict of interest as acquisition targets for both companies overlapped.[15] Bingham was forced to resign from the Cypress board in early June 2017 and both of Rodgers' nominees won the subsequent 2017 shareholder election against Benhamou.[14]
SunPower
Rodgers early recognized the value[16] of high efficiency solar cells produced by SunPower. As SunPower faced financial problems in 2001, Rodgers[17] tried to convince the Cypress board[16] to buy the solar cell producer.[18] Rodgers and SunPower CEO Richard Swanson had met in the 70s at Stanford University. But as the Cypress board of directors was not interested in saving the struggling company Rodgers wrote a check himself for $750,000.[17] About a year later Rodgers had convinced the board to invest $9 million in SunPower and a few months later Cypress bought a majority stake in SunPower.[16] In 2005 SunPower went public[18] and reached a market capitalization of $10.4 billion in 2007.[16] From May 2002 to May 2011, Rodgers served as chairman of SunPower.[19]
Enphase Energy
In January 2017, Rodgers invested US$5 million in
Board memberships
- Bloom Energy, a fuel cell producer
- Enovix, producer of silicon lithium-ion batteries
- Enphase Energy, energy technology company
- Complete Solaria, a vertically integrated residential solar company
- FarmX, precision agriculture company
- FTC Solar, a renewable energy company
- Bespoken Spirits Inc., a beverage technology company
Rodgers also served as director of the Semiconductor Industry Association.[23]
Trustee of Dartmouth College
After successfully launching a petition drive to get his name on the ballot, Rodgers won the alumni trustee election of Dartmouth College in 2004,[24] becoming the first successful petition candidate since 1980.[25] He won with a comfortable margin.[26] As trustee, Rodgers’ major concerns were removing the College's speech code,[25] increasing the budget for teacher salaries and strengthening Dartmouth's focus on undergraduate education.[27] Following the campaign of Rodgers, three additional independent trustees were elected in 2005 and 2007.[28] Rodgers was reelected as trustee in 2009.[25]
Clos de la Tech
Rodgers began winemaking in 1996 on a one-acre
Comments on diversity
In 1996, Rodgers made headlines when Sister Doris Gormley, the Director of Corporate
Personal life
Rodgers is an avid
Awards and recognition
1986:
- Entrepreneur of the Year by City of Santa Clara, California[40]
1988:
- ENCORE (Entrepreneurial Company of the Year) Award from the Stanford University Business School[40][41]
1996:
- "CEO of the year" – Financial World[40]
1997
- Outstanding Individual Entrepreneurship Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
2000:
- Award from the Healing Institute for his support of the Carver Scholars Program
2001:
- Cited as one of the "100 People Who Changed Our World." by Upside[40]
- Silicon Valley Capitalism Award for "exemplifying the virtues of capitalism and defending capitalism with ethical principles in the media."
- Angel Award by the International Angel Investors organization for his venture-capital activities supporting the semiconductor industry
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Smith Center for Private Enterprise Studies at California State University, Hayward
2002:
- "Top 100 Chief Executives" by Chief Executive[40]
2005 :
- Inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame.
2006:
- Honored with a Fellow Award from the International Engineering Consortium.
2009:
- Spirit of Ireland Award
Patents
1975
US3878552 – Bipolar Integrated Circuit and Method[42]
US3924265 – Low capacitance V groove MOS NOR gate and method of manufacture[43]
1976
US3975221 – Low capacitance V groove MOS NOR gate and method of manufacture[44]
1980
US4222063 – VMOS Floating gate memory with breakdown voltage loweringregion[45]
US4222062 – VMOS Floating gate memory device[46]
1981
CA1115426 – U-groove mos device[47]
1988
US5835401 – DRAM with hidden refresh[48]
US4764248 – Rapid thermal nitridized oxide locos process[49]
1999
US5977638 – Edge metal for interconnect layers[50]
2000
US6131140 – Integrated cache memory with system control logic and adaptation of RAM bus to a cache pinout[51]
2001
US6185126 – Self-initializing RAM-based programmable device[52]
2004
US6835616 – Method of forming a floating metal structure in an integratedcircuit[53]
US6730545 – Method of performing back-end manufacturing of an integrated circuit device[54]
US2004076712 – Fermentation tank wine press [55]
2005
US6903002 – Low-k dielectric layer with air gaps[56]
US6847218 – Probe card with an adapter layer for testing integrated circuits[57]
2006
US7045387 – Method of performing back-end manufacturing of an integrated circuit[58]
2007
US7227804 – Current source architecture for memory device standby current reduction[59]
2008
US2008315847 – Programmable floating gate reference[60]
US2008102160 – Wine-making press[61]
2009
US7507944 – Non-planar packaging of image sensor[62]
2017
US9624094 – Hydrogen barriers in a copper interconnect process[63]
Bibliography
- T. J. Rodgers; William Taylor; Rick Foreman (1993). No-Excuses Management: Proven Systems for Starting Fast, Growing Quickly, and Surviving Hard Times. Bantam Dell. ISBN 978-0-385-42604-6.
See also
- Milton Friedman – Nobel Prize-winning economist, debated Rodgers and Mackey
- John Mackey – founder of Whole Foods Market, debated Rodgers and Friedman
References
- ^ a b c Johnson, Steve (August 20, 2010). "T.J. Rodgers, CEO and president of Cypress Semiconductor". The Mercury News. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ "Cypress CEO to Step Down". www.cypress.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ^ "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ... / T.J. Rodgers". January 30, 2005.
- ^ a b "The Bad Boy of Silicon Valley". Bloomberg.com. December 9, 1991.
- ^ "The T.J. Rodgers '70 Book Prize". Dartmouth Department of Chemistry. November 14, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ a b c Darrow, Barb (April 28, 2016). "Cypress Semiconductor Losing Its CEO While Gaining a New Business From Broadcom". Fortune. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ "Products". Cypress. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ Merritt, Rick (December 3, 2015). "T.J. Rodgers on Mergers, IoT, More". EE Times. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ Hesseldahl, Arik (December 3, 2007). "Hot Growth: The Chips Have It". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ "Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities exchange act of 1934". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. January 3, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
- ^ "Cypress Semiconductor replaces executive chairman amid proxy brawl with its founder". Silicon Valley Business Journal. June 13, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ Poletti, Therese (June 19, 2017). "Burning Cypress: Ousted CEO wages bruising battle with company he built". Market Watch. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b Flaherty, Michael (June 20, 2017). "Cypress Semi shareholders vote in dissident directors". Reuters. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b "Cypress Semiconductor reaches settlement with former CEO Rodgers". Reuters. July 5, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b Manners, David (August 2, 2017). "China eyeing up Imagination". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Holahan, Catherine (December 3, 2007). "T.J. Rodgers' Startup Strategy". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ a b Wesoff, Eric (February 9, 2011). "T.J. Rodgers: Just Say No to Subsidies and Global Warming". Greentech Media. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ a b Tanaka, Wendy (March 19, 2008). "Silicon Valley Can't Be Beat". Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ McBride, Sarah (November 16, 2010). "SunPower chairman wants to quit and return to roots". Reuters. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ Dunn, James (February 13, 2017). "Petaluma's Enphase Energy transforms to survive scorching solar competition". Northbay Business Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- ^ McGrath, Dylan (January 12, 2017). "T.J. Rodgers Backs Renewable Energy Firm". EE Times. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- ^ "Enphase gets investment from 2 Silicon Valley entrepreneurs". Renewables Now. January 11, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- ^ "T.J. Rodgers Provides Investor Presentation For Cypress Stockholders". TheStreet. March 13, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Currie, Duncan (April 25, 2005). "The Dartmouth Insurgency". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ a b c Smeallie, Kyle; Romero, Maria. "Dartmouth College, the Battle Over Parity & the Legal Notion of Fiduciary Duty" (PDF). Dartmouth's Daily Blog. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Malchow, Joe (May 27, 2008). "Dartmouth Against Democracy". Dartmouth's Daily Blog. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ Schemo, Diana Jean (June 21, 2006). "Dartmouth Alumni Battles Become a Spectator Sport". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ Lewin, Tamar (September 8, 2007). "Battle Over Board Structure at Dartmouth Raises Passions of Alumni". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ^ a b Vreeken, Stacey (September 24, 2013). "Stacey Vreeken, Wine Press: Clos de la Tech pursues pinot perfection, sparing no expense". Santa Cruz Sentinel Food. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ a b Narasin, Ben (July 13, 2015). "Clos de la Tech Wine: Combining Ancient Principles with Modern Technologies". Edible Silicon Valley. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ Randewich, Noel (November 9, 2011). "Chip icon TJ Rodgers turns his tech to winemaking". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ Zinko, Carolyne (January 30, 2005). "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ... / T.J. Rodgers". SFGate. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ "Clos de la Tech". Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- ^ Bailey, Pat (January 8, 2013). "T.J. Rodgers completes world's first wireless wine fermentation network for UC Davis winery". University of California Davis. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
- Reason.
… Thank you for your letter criticizing the lack of racial and gender diversity of Cypress's Board of Directors. I received the same letter from you last year. I will reiterate the management arguments opposing your position. Then I will provide the philosophical basis behind our rejection of the operating principles espoused in your letter, which we believe to be not only unsound, but even immoral, by a definition of that term I will present.
- ^ http://www.cypress.com/documentation/ceo-articles/cypress-ceo-responds-nuns-urging-politically-correct-board-make>
- San Jose Mercury News. March 14, 1999.
- ^ "Trustees Emeriti". Dartmouth College. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
- ^ "Mercury News interview: T.J. Rodgers, CEO and president of Cypress Semiconductor". August 20, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Board of Trustees". Dartmouth College. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ "2016 ENCORE Award". Stanford Graduate School of Business. October 10, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ US patent 3878552
- ^ US patent 3924265
- ^ US patent 3975221
- ^ US patent 4222063
- ^ US patent 4222062
- ^ CA patent 1115426
- ^ US patent 5835401
- ^ US patent 4764248
- ^ US patent 5977638
- ^ US patent 6131140
- ^ US patent 6185126
- ^ US patent 6835616
- ^ US patent 6730545
- ^ US patent 2004076712
- ^ US patent 6903002
- ^ US patent 6847218
- ^ US patent 7045387
- ^ US patent 7227804
- ^ US patent 2008315847
- ^ US patent 2008102160
- ^ US patent 7507944
- ^ US patent 9624094
External links
- "Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business". Reason. October 2005. Archived from the original on October 24, 2006. – A debate between John Mackey, Milton Friedman, and T.J. Rodgers
- Text of Rodger's letter to Sister Gormley Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Profile from Dartmouth College upon his election to the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees
- T.J. Rodgers – Libertarian from the Advocates for Self-Government website
- "Cypress' T.J. Rodgers on solar, politics, and capitalism, part 1". News.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008.
- "Cypress' T.J. Rodgers on solar, politics, and capitalism, part 2". News.com.[permanent dead link]
- Mr. Rodgers Goes to Dartmouth A cautionary tale about a businessman who ventured back into the Ivory Tower. Interview in the Wall Street Journal2008-02-15