Bret Bergman has served Qcept Technologies in a number of capacities since joining the start-up in 2002, including fundraising resulting in $24 million and guiding Qcept's focus on the semiconductor equipment market. Prior to that, he was managing partner of Bergman & Associates,
a venture and consulting firm for early-stage technology companies. Before
founding that firm, Bergman was chief operating officer at Nexchange Corp.,
an early stage e-commerce service provider. Earlier in his career, he served
as vice president of marketing and strategy/managed services for Internet
Security Systems Inc., and as engagement manager for McKinsey & Co. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Speech School.
Bergman received a B.S. degree in marketing from the University of Vermont
and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Erik Smith, President
Erik Smith’s background includes 15 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He spent 13 years with Ultratech; a $400M market cap semiconductor equipment manufacturer supplying the semiconductor, advanced packaging, and nanotechnology markets. During his last 6 years at Ultratech he held the position of Vice President of World-Wide Sales and then Senior Vice President of World-Wide Sales & Marketing. Erik’s career at Ultratech began in Tokyo as the Managing Director of Ultratech’s Japan and Korean Operations in the early to mid ‘90s. Earlier in his career, Erik worked in Washington, D.C. for a senior Congressman as an advisor on trade issues and later joined Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) as a lobbyist promoting high tech public policy initiatives such as R&D tax credits, SEMATECH funding, and export control licensing relief. Erik finished his career with SEMI in Japan running SEMI’s Japanese market penetration program for U.S. and European members.
Erik received his B.A. in International Relations from Trinity College in Hartford CT. Erik is proficient in Japanese and his education also includes international studies in Brussels and Tianjin, China.
Henrietta (Henri) Barnes, Chief Financial Officer
Henri has 15+ years of diverse accounting business experience that include VP of Finance at ServiceCentral Technologies, Inc. and CFO for the US subsidiary of BETA Systems Software, AG. For a period of five years, Barnes was owner of her own financial consulting business where she secured a broad base of clients ranging from real estate construction to international distribution. Her experience includes the performance of financial and managerial accounting, participation in acquisitions and IPO's and implementation of accounting software systems and internal controls. She maintains a current license as a Certified Public Accountant. Women in Technology (WIT) announced Henri as a finalist for the 10th Annual Women of the Year in Technology Awards in August, 2009.
Barnes received her B.S. in Accounting and Business Administration from High Point University in High Point, NC and her B.A. from the American Intercontinental University in Atlanta, GA. She also holds three A.A.S. degrees from Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC.
Jeff Hawthorne, Vice President of Advanced Development
Jeff Hawthorne has more than 20 years of experience in product development in the commercial sensor system and manufacturing process control industry, including roles from Manager of Process Monitoring and Control Research at Motorola to Product Manager at Machine Vision Technology (a start-up acquired by Agilent).
Hawthorne received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Robert Newcomb, Vice President of Business Development and Applications
Robert Newcomb has more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor and high technology industries spanning sales, marketing, customer support and engineering. His semiconductor experience includes more than eight years working for device manufacturers IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation in the areas of metrology, inspection and plasma etch. He has spent the past twelve years working with semiconductor capital equipment start-ups primarily focused on the metrology, inspection and factory automation areas. Newcomb has published and presented numerous papers in the areas of wafer metrology and inspection.
Newcomb received a B.S. in microelectronic engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA in marketing of technology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Ralph Spicer, Vice President of Marketing
Ralph Spicer has 20 years of high technology experience, including 11 years in the semiconductor equipment industry at KLA-Tencor, the world’s leading inspection and metrology supplier, where he was Senior Director of Marketing. He has served in a number of marketing, program management, and M&A positions within the firm, including key roles for the 21xx / 23xx brightfield patterned wafer inspection, SP1 / SP2 unpatterned wafer inspection, NP1 wafer geometry, and eDR-5000 e-beam review products. Spicer also has prior experience in electrical design, systems engineering, and engineering management.
Spicer received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
