Hector de Jesus Ruiz

Former CEO and executive chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Ruiz led the semiconductor company through a period of major transformation.

Hector de Jesus Ruiz was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, a small city on the border of Texas. He grew up poor; his family didn't have electricity until he was a child. He's said that exposure to a radio that a relative owned sparked his interest in electronics. He completed his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Monterrey in Mexico, then earned a Master's Degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from Rice University, both in electrical engineering.

He started his career at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1972, then spending 22 years at Motorola, where he rose to the position of President of the Semiconductor Products sector. He joined AMD in 2000 as President and Chief Operating Officer. He became CEO in 2002 and then executive chairman in 2008, serving until 2009.

During his tenure, Ruiz oversaw the company's $5.4 billion acquisition of Canadian graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies in 2006. He also managed the company's financial difficulties after that acquisition and steered AMD through an antitrust dispute with Intel. He received the 2009 Semico Impact Award for his leadership in the semiconductor industry.