Corporate governance

Welcome to the Corporate Governance page of the Vicor Investor Website. Vicor is committed to the highest standards of ethical behavior and corporate conduct. All of Vicor's directors, officers, and employees have a responsibility to serve the shareholders in all aspects of their jobs with honesty, fairness and integrity. The corporate governance information presented here is intended to help investors understand Vicor's governance practices and, in particular, the composition, independence and responsibilities of the Board of Directors. Vicor policies not only are consistent with the law and the rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC., they also ensure that Vicor operates in the best interest of its shareholders.

Corporate governance practices

Board of directors

Patrizio Vinciarelli

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Vinciarelli founded the Corporation in 1981 and has been Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer since that time. Prior to founding the Corporation, from 1977 until 1980, he was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. From 1973 through 1976, he was a Fellow at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Meyrin, Switzerland. Dr. Vinciarelli received his doctorate in Physics from the University of Rome, Italy.

James A. Simms

Corporate Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Secretary

Mr. Simms has been our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Corporate Secretary since 2008. In 2016, Mr. Simms was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of VLT, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation that owns a majority of the Corporation’s patents. From 2007 until 2008, he was a Managing Director of Needham & Company, LLC, an investment banking and asset management firm. Previously, he had served as a Managing Director with the investment banking firm of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company (from 2004 to 2007) and as a Managing Director of the investment banking firm of Adams, Harkness & Hill, Inc. (from 1997 to 2004). Mr. Simms served as a member of the Board of Directors of PAR Technology Corporation (from 2001 to 2014), a publicly-held provider of information technology solutions in the hospitality and specialty retail industries and a provider of advanced technology systems and support services to the United States military and other governmental agencies. Mr. Simms received a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Barry Kelleher

Mr. Kelleher retired from the Corporation effective December 31, 2016 after 23 years of service but continues to serve as a Director following his retirement as an employee. Until his retirement, Mr. Kelleher had served as the President of the Corporation’s Brick Business Unit since 2006. Mr. Kelleher previously served as Senior Vice President, Global Operations, and General Manager of the Corporation’s Brick Business Unit (from 2005 to 2006), Senior Vice President, Global Operations (from 1999 to 2005), and Senior Vice President, International Operations (from 1993 to 1999). From 1981 until joining the Corporation in 1993, Mr. Kelleher was employed by Computer Products Inc., a manufacturer of power conversion products, where he held the position of Corporate Vice President and President of the Power Conversion Group. He received B.Eng. and M.B.A. degrees from University College Cork and University College Dublin, respectively.

H. Allen Henderson

Mr. Henderson retired from the Corporation in February 2016, having served in various leadership roles since joining the Corporation in 1985. He served as a Corporate Vice President from 1999 until his retirement and was President of our Westcor Division from 1999 to until its closure in 2014. Mr. Henderson also served, from 2000 until his retirement, as President and Chief Executive Officer of VLT, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation that owns a majority of the Corporation’s patents. Prior to joining the Corporation, Mr. Henderson was employed at Boschert, Inc., a manufacturer of power supplies, since 1984, serving as Director of Marketing. Mr. Henderson received a B.A.E.E. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Duke University.

Claudio Tuozzolo

Corporate Vice President, President Picor Corporation

Mr. Tuozzolo has been President of Picor Corporation, a subsidiary of the Corporation, since 2003. Previously, he had been Director of Integrated Circuit Engineering for the Corporation, from February 2003 to November 2003, and Manager of Integrated Circuit Design, from 2001 to February 2003. Before joining the Corporation in 2001, Mr. Tuozzolo was a Principal Design Engineer for SIPEX Corporation, from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Tuozzolo has authored nine U.S. patents in semiconductor design. He attended the University of Rome and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island.

Samuel J. Anderson

Mr. Anderson has been the Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IceMOS Technology Corporation, a privately-held developer and manufacturer of specialized semiconductor substrates, as well as high voltage power switching devices utilizing its proprietary technology, since 2002. Mr. Anderson was the Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Great Wall Semiconductor Corporation (“GWS”), of which the Corporation was an owner of non-voting convertible preferred stock, from 2002 to September 2015, when GWS was acquired by Intersil Corporation. Previously, Mr. Anderson was Vice President of Corporate Business Development of ON Semiconductor Corporation, a supplier of semiconductors (from 1999 to 2001) and held various positions within the semiconductor operations of Motorola, Inc., the predecessor organization (from 1984 to 1999). Mr. Anderson also served, from 2001 to 2011, as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc., a supplier of power management semiconductors, when the company was acquired by Skyworks Solutions, Inc. Mr. Anderson holds numerous U.S. patents for semiconductor technologies. He received an M.S. in Microelectronics from Arizona State University, an M.S. in Physics from Queen’s University of Belfast, and a B.S. in Electronics from the University of Ulster.

Jason L. Carlson

Mr. Carlson has been the Chief Executive Officer of congatec AG, a technology and service provider for embedded computing solutions, since 2015. Previously, Mr. Carlson was President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as a member of the Board of Directors, of QD Vision, Inc., a privately-held developer of nanomaterial-based solutions for advanced display and lighting applications, from 2010 to 2015. From 2010 to 2011, Mr. Carlson also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc., a publicly-traded developer of power management semiconductors, which was acquired by Skyworks Solutions, Inc. in January 2012. From 2006 until joining QD Vision in 2010, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Emo Labs, Inc., a privately-held developer of innovative audio speaker technology. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Carlson was President and Chief Executive Officer of Semtech Corporation, a publicly-traded vendor of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, with an emphasis on power management applications. From 1999 to 2002, he was Vice President & General Manager for the Crystal Product Division and the Consumer Products & Data Acquisition Division of Cirrus Logic, Inc. a publicly-traded vendor of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors for consumer and industrial applications. Mr. Carlson joined Cirrus Logic in 1999 when that company acquired AudioLogic, Inc., of which he had been Chief Executive Officer. He began his career as a founder of ReSound Corporation, a pioneering developer of digital hearing aids, which completed its initial public offering in 1993.

Estia J. Eichten

Dr. Eichten, an early investor who contributed to the founding of the Corporation, has held various positions with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory since 1981, being named a Senior Scientist in 1989. Earlier, he had been an Associate Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Dr. Eichten received both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow and currently is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2011, Dr. Eichten and three collaborators were awarded the prestigious J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics in acknowledgment of outstanding achievement in particle physics theory. While a Director of the Corporation, he has served since July 2000 as a Director of VLT, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation, which owns a majority of the Corporation’s patents.

Liam K. Griffin

Mr. Griffin has been President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Skyworks Solutions, Inc., a global designer and manufacturer of a broad portfolio of proprietary analog semiconductor solutions, most notably for enabling wireless communications, since May 2016. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive and to the Skyworks Solutions Board of Directors, he had served as President, since 2014. Previously, Mr. Griffin served as Executive Vice President and Corporate General Manager from 2012 to 2014, with responsibility for all of Skyworks Solutions’ business units. Since joining Skyworks Solutions in 2001, Mr. Griffin previously held the positions of Executive Vice President and General Manager of High Performance Analog and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Before joining Skyworks Solutions, he was the Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Dover Corporation and held product management and process engineering positions at AT&T’s Microelectronics and Network Systems’ businesses. Mr. Griffin received B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Massachusetts and Boston University, respectively.

Committee composition

Members of the Audit Committee:

Jason L. Carlson (Audit Committee Financial Expert)
Estia J. Eichten
Liam K. Griffin
Members of the Compensation Committee:
Jason L. Carlson, Chairman
Estia J. Eichten
Liam K. Griffin