Dr. Sam Harrell

A U.S Presidential economic advisory member, a leading specialist in semiconductor and international trade, he served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Development for KLA Tencor from 1995 to 2002, when he retired from the semiconductor industry. He was one of the founders of SEMATECH and served as its Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. From September 1987 to October 1992, he was President of SEMI-SEMATECH, the consortium of equipment and materials suppliers. SEMATECH was a partnership between the United States government and 14 U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturers to solve common manufacturing problems and regain competitiveness for the U.S. semiconductor industry that had been surpassed by Japanese industry in the mid-1980s. Earlier in his career, he spent nine years in senior management positions at Texas Instruments, with responsibility for computer aided design (CAD) services, photomask production, photoresist development, lithography system development, and wafer fabrication technology. After TI, he worked for Computervision for nine years as Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy Officer, and General Manager of the Cobilt Division. He then went on to establish Micronix to develop x-ray lithographic systems and medical x-ray sources. He has served as a member of the SEMI Board of Directors and was SEMI chairman in 1985. He received a Bachelor of Science with a major in Chemistry from Texas Technological University in 1961 and a Ph.D. in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati in 1964. He is noted for serving in numerous advisory roles to the US government relating to semiconductor technology and international trade. He has led conferences in both the United States and Japan on Education in the 21st Century, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Wagyu Association. He serves on the Chancellor's Advisory Committee at Texas A & M, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation of Tarleton State University.