Executive profiles

Ryan Petersen

President & Chief Executive Officer
Providing the vision and leadership that has successfully guided OCZ from startup to industry leader, Mr. Petersen has held the post of CEO since its founding. Mr. Petersen is the inventor or co-inventor of much of OCZ's proprietary technology. Prior to OCZ Mr. Petersen was engaged in entrepreneurial activities, He is one of the pioneering members of the Semiconductor Enhancement field and an active member of the engineering community.

Kerry Smith

Chief Financial Officer
Kerry Smith is responsible for all finance and administrative related operations at OCZ and brings over twenty years of accounting and legal expertise having worked at international law firms for over 19 years and having spent 3 years in accounting positions with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte & Touche). Most recently, Kerry was a corporate and securities partner with the international law firm of DLA Piper US LLP. He holds a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law.

Alex Mei

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Mr. Mei is the executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer at OCZ and is responsible for multiple functions including strategy and solutions, and oversees corporate marketing and field marketing initiatives. Upon joining OCZ in 2004, he brought a decade of experience in brand and product marketing focused on consumer and component solutions in the channel, system integration, and the retail space. Mr. Mei has held multiple senior level marketing management positions in high-tech firms, most recently serving for 5 years as Global Marketing Manager for First International Computer Inc. Mr. Mei holds a B.S. in Marketing Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo University.

John Apps

Senior Vice President--Operations

Mr. Apps is responsible for production operations, business systems, telecommunications, and related technology infrastructure throughout the company. Previously he held the position of General Manager for OCZ's European branch, and prior to that was the General Manager of the Canadian branch. Mr. Apps was instrumental in the expansion into these new regions and opened and built the infrastructure for both of those organizations. Prior to joining OCZ Canada in 2003 Mr. Apps was involved in several entrepreneurial activities and founded companies such as IANAG, Review Locater, and Ramstore Canada. Mr. Apps studied Computer Science at the University of Windsor, Canada.

Richard Singh

Senior Vice President--Sales
Mr. Singh is responsible for managing the worldwide sales and business development team as well as directly contributing to the company's fast paced growth in the Enterprise and Channel SSD market. Mr. Singh previously served as the Senior VP of Sales during the company's rapid expansion in 2005 to 2007 when the company had 80% CAGR and first went public in London. Thus, while he is quite accustomed to a high growth environment, his background is now particularly well-suited to OCZ's current SSD Enterprise initiatives as he has previous storage industry experience from working at Samsung's storage division, Toshiba Disk Products, and Seagate Technology. In addition to these companies, Mr. Singh has also held positions in other technology companies such as Corsair Memory Inc. and ON-Stream Data. Overall, he has more than 20 years of sales and management experience in the high tech industry.

Eugene Chang

Vice President of Product Management
Mr. Chang is the Vice President of Product Management at OCZ and oversees procurement as well as leads the product management team for the complete spectrum of memory, flash, power management, thermal and system solutions.Mr. Chang has over fifteen years of experience in product management and product development in both components and systems. He has held senior level product management positions at Everex, First International Computer, and Twinhead. Most recently he served as the Product Marketing Manager at Everex Systems where he developed a variety of branded systems across multiple platforms which successfully sold through major retail and e-tail channels. Mr. Chang holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego.

Arthur Knapp

Vice President of Finance
With over 30 years of business and financial experience, Mr. Knapp joined OCZ in 2005 and is responsible for all finance related operations at OCZ. Mr. Knapp previously served as Chief Financial Officer at publicly-held high-tech companies such as Duquesne Systems, LEGENT Corporation, Boole & Babbage, and Calico Commerce. Mr. Knapp also spent 10 years in public accounting, is a CPA /CMA , and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Penn State University.

Bob Roark

Vice President of Operations--Power Management
Mr. Roark is responsible for overseeing the operations of OCZ's Power Management Division which includes both OCZ and PC Power and Cooling product lines. Mr. Roark joined PC Power & Cooling in 1989 as the General Manager and was instrumental in carrying out PC Power & Cooling's mandate for continued innovation, overseeing the production and fulfillment of PSUs with maximum performance and reliability. Prior to this Bob's previous 13 years experience was in Aerospace Material Processing where he managed major manufacturer accounts, production control, and logistics support with Lindberg Heat Treating Company, and Aerochem, Inc.

Dr. Michael Schuette

Vice President of Technology Development
Dr. Schuette is responsible for driving OCZ's Technology Development and for coordinating with the OCZ product development team on technology implementation. Dr. Schuette has held various technology development positions with computer and memory manufacturers, most recently with Enhanced Memory Systems, a division of Ramtron Int. (RMTR). He is widely known as a technology author, a prolific inventor, the founder of the popular technical website, LostCircuits and the Co-Founder of Data-Secure, LLC. Dr. Schuette holds a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Physics from the Ludwig Maximilian's University, Munich.

Jessica Luken

Director, Global Marketing
Ms. Luken joined OCZ in 2004 and became an integral part of daily marketing and PR activities, contributing to the growth and development of the OCZ brand. As Director of Global Marketing she is responsible for strategic brand development, product launches, channel support, and public relations. Ms. Luken holds a B.A. in Communications at University of California, Santa Barbara.

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