Dr. Michael Russak Director

Officers & Directors

Dr. Michael A. Russak

Director

Dr. Russak has over thirty five years of industrial experience progressing from a research scientist to senior executive officer of two public companies. He has expertise in thin film materials and devices for magnetic recording, photovoltaic, solar thermal applications, semiconductor devices as well as glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials. He also has over twelve years experience at the executive management level of public companies with significant off shore development and manufacturing functions.

Dr. Russak received his B.S. in Ceramic Engineering in 1968 and Ph.D. in Materials Science in 1971, both from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. During his career, he has been a contributing scientist and program manager at the Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and a Research Staff Member and technical manager in the areas of thin film materials and processes at the Research Division of the IBM Corporation at the T.J. Watson Research Laboratories. In 1993, he joined HMT Technology, a manufacturer of thin film disks for magnetic storage, as Vice President of Research and Development. His responsibilities included new product design and introduction. Dr. Russak became Chief Technical Officer of HMT and held that position until 2000 when HMT merged with Komag Inc. Dr. Russak was appointed President and Chief Technical Officer of the combined company. He continued to set technical, operational and business direction for Komag until his retirement at the end of 2006. Dr. Russak is currently Executive Director of IDEMA-US, the trade association for the Hard Disk Drive Industry. He has published over 90 technical papers, and holds 23 U.S. patents.