Exhibit 99.1
FORMER MAXTOR CEO MICHAEL CANNON
JOINS SOLECTRON AS PRESIDENT AND CEO
- KO NISHIMURA RETIRES FROM COMPANY AFTER 14 YEARS -
- LEAD INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR WILLIAM HASLER ELECTED BOARD CHAIRMAN -
For Immediate Release: Jan. 6, 2003
MILPITAS, Calif. - Solectron Corporation (NYSE: SLR), a leading provider of
electronics manufacturing and supply-chain management services, today announced
that Michael R. Cannon has been named president and chief executive officer,
effective this Friday. He succeeds Koichi Nishimura, 64, who in September
announced his intention to retire.
Cannon, 50, was also elected to the Solectron board. He joins Solectron from
Maxtor Corporation, where he was president, CEO and a director of a leading
global supplier of hard disk drive storage products and solutions.
The board also elected William A. Hasler, the company's lead independent
director, to succeed Nishimura as chairman of the board. Hasler, a Solectron
director since 1998, is co-CEO of Aphton Corporation, an international
biotechnology firm.
In Mike Cannon's six years at Maxtor, he led a significant increase in the
company's revenues while diversifying its base of business. He also orchestrated
the 2001 merger between Maxtor and Quantum Corporation's hard disk drive
division, a move that established Maxtor as one of the world's largest hard disk
drive manufacturers and a leading developer of storage solutions and technology.
Maxtor, based in Milpitas, had sales of $2.7 billion in the first nine months of
2002.
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Cannon was selected in a succession process led by a special committee of
Solectron's board. The process included consideration of internal candidates and
an international candidate search.
"Mike is an ideal choice for Solectron," Hasler said. "He has more than 25 years
of manufacturing and technology industry experience, and over that time has
built a strong record of growing highly competitive, low-margin businesses. He
also has firsthand experience with the types of challenges and opportunities
Solectron faces, and he has extensive experience in Asia, an important region
for our company.
"We believe he has the strategic skills and leadership abilities needed to
accelerate our business, complete Solectron's return to industry-leading
profitability and drive the company through a new phase of growth and
development," Hasler said.
Said Cannon: "Solectron is a great company with an exciting future. With an
industry-leading range of services and unparalleled supply-chain expertise, the
company is well positioned to generate sustained, long-term value for our
constituents. The prospects for the EMS industry are bright as outsourcing
continues to expand and as technology end markets eventually rebound. I look
forward to working with the company's management team to build upon the record
of success created through Ko Nishimura's leadership."
In Nishimura's first year as CEO, Solectron had $97 million in sales and
operated out of one site in California. In fiscal 2002, Solectron had $12.3
billion in sales and today serves global customers from facilities in more than
20 countries on five continents.
Hasler said: "On behalf of the board and the entire corporation, I thank Ko for
his outstanding leadership, his tremendous vision and the countless
contributions he made to Solectron's success over the last 14 years. Ko's vision
not only led the development of a global, industry-leading company, he was
instrumental in creating an entire industry.
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"While Ko's continued involvement would have been welcomed, we respect his
decision, we appreciate his years of dedicated service as an innovator and
leader, and we wish him well in his retirement," Hasler said.
Solectron also said today that Saeed Zohouri, executive vice president and chief
operating officer, has left the company. This change is part of the CEO
transition process, and Zohouri's responsibilities will be handled by Cannon.
ABOUT MIKE CANNON
Before joining Maxtor as president and CEO in 1996, Cannon held senior
management positions in IBM's Storage Systems Division, including vice
president, worldwide operations; vice president of the Mobile and Desktop
Business Unit; and vice president of product design. He established
manufacturing sites for IBM in Singapore, Thailand, China and Hungary, and led
the turnaround of the company's hard-drive business by returning it from
operating losses to profitability during his tenure.
Prior to joining IBM in 1993, Cannon spent much of the previous decade at
Control Data Corporation and its Imprimis Technology spin-off in a variety of
senior management positions in the technology components and disk drive
operations areas. At Imprimis, he was based in Singapore for four years as vice
president of Far East operations. Before joining Control Data in 1983, he spent
nine years in engineering and management positions in the Manufacturing Research
and Development organization at The Boeing Company. He studied mechanical
engineering at Michigan State University and completed the Advanced Management
Program at Harvard Business School.
ABOUT BILL HASLER
Bill Hasler joined the Solectron board in 1998 and is the company's lead
independent director. He is co-chief executive officer of Aphton Corporation, an
international biotechnology firm. He is a past dean of the Haas School of
Business at the University of California at Berkeley, and is a
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former vice chairman and director of KPMG LLP. Hasler is active in the formation
of technology companies and serves as a director of The Schwab Funds, Elevon,
DMC Stratex Networks, Tenera Inc. and DiTech Corporation. He is a public
governor of the Pacific Stock & Options Exchange, where he chairs the Regulatory
Oversight Committee. Hasler, a certified public accountant, attended Pomona
(California) College and earned an MBA from Harvard University.
WEBCAST TO BE HELD TUESDAY
At 10:30 a.m. EST Tuesday, Solectron will hold a conference call to discuss this
announcement. A live Internet broadcast of the call can be joined by going to
http://www.firstcallevents.com/service/ajwz371449202gf12.html. Following the
live broadcast, replays of the call will be available at
www.solectron.com/investor.
In addition, audio replays will be available immediately following the call
through Jan. 14. Call (800) 642-1687 from within the United States or (706)
645-9291 from outside the United States and specify pass code: 7463768.
ABOUT SOLECTRON
Solectron (www.solectron.com) provides a full range of global manufacturing and
supply-chain management services to the world's premier high-tech electronics
companies. Solectron's offering includes new-product design and introduction
services, materials management, high-tech product manufacturing, and product
warranty and end-of-life support. Solectron, based in Milpitas, Calif., is the
first two-time winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The
company had sales of $12.3 billion in fiscal 2002.
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Analyst/Investor Contacts:
Perry Hayes, Solectron Corporation, (408) 956-7543 (U.S.), perryhayes@ca.slr.com
Tonya Chin, Solectron Corporation, (408) 956-6537 (U.S.), tonyachin@ca.slr.com
Media Contact:
Kevin Whalen, Solectron Corporation, (408) 956-6854 (U.S.),
kevinwhalen@ca.slr.com