Rodel enhances executive team with key appointments

Jeff Anderson has been promoted to vice president of marketing and sales for semiconductor materials at Rodel Nitta, a joint venture between Rodel and Nitta Industries, and Jim Mori has been promoted to the position of director of marketing. Catherine Markham has joined the company in the role of director of pad technology. All three will report directly to Daniel Koharko, executive vice president of marketing and technology.

“Each of these appointments will play an integral role in enhancing Rodel’s leadership in terms of our market position, technology growth and internal management capabilities,” said Koharko. “Jeff’s proven leadership qualities and sales experience during his tenure with Rodel will ensure our continued success in Japan. Likewise, Jim has been a valuable part of the Rodel team for several years, and he will focus on securing markets for our new products and growing the markets for our core products. Cathie’s expertise and strengths will play an essential role in the future growth of our pad business, ensuring that Rodel keeps pace with the stringent demands of our customers and the industry through an aggressive technology development program.”

As vice president of marketing and sales for semiconductor materials, Anderson is responsible for managing and directing all Rodel Nitta semiconductor materials’ marketing and sales activity in Japan and Asia. He will be relocating to Japan to serve in his new role with Rodel Nitta. Anderson most recently worked as director of Asian Integration for Rodel, and prior to that was global sales manager of Rodel’s Substrates/Storage/Optics (SSO) business unit. This appointment will allow Anderson to utilize his strengths and experience to continue Rodel’s globalization efforts and support the growth of its market share for polishing materials in these evolving and important technology industries. Prior to joining Rodel in 1998, Anderson served in the Electronic Chemicals division of Ashland Chemical, Inc., in both sales and global sales management capacities, and as business director for Pace International. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

In his new role of director of marketing, Mori will head Rodel’s marketing groups based in Phoenix and Newark, Delaware. Mori joined Rodel in 2000 as the first global portfolio director of its SSO business unit. In this capacity, he played a critical role in the repositioning of the SSO unit through the expansion of its product line in multiple industries, through alliances, joint ventures and acquisitions. Mori has also gained experience working with Rodel’s market channel and supply chain organizations on implementing new processes. Previous to Rodel, Mori spent 10 years with Otis Elevator, a division of United Technologies Corporation, where he held various executive finance positions. Mori holds an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Harvey Mudd College. He has eighteen years experience in South America and East Asia, and is fluent in English, Spanish, Japanese and French.

As the new director of pad technology, Markham will oversee the pad technical services group and the pad R&D group. She brings two decades of experience in building high performance technical teams and developing optimal work processes to her new role at Rodel. Prior to this appointment, Markham served at ExxonMobil, managing R&D, technical service, engineering, new business and organizational improvement activities. During her tenure at ExxonMobil, she gained valuable experience in securing profit opportunities through the commercial application of new technology, successfully aligning R&D objectives to business needs, and managing a highly responsive, customer-focused worldwide technical service program. Markham earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds six United States patents.