James LaCasse – President and CEO
Jim holds the position of President and CEO of NexPlanar Corporation. Prior to this Jim held senior management positions at several global semiconductor materials companies.  Most recently he was CEO of Quantum Leap Packaging, a venture capital backed start-up in the Boston area.  Prior to this he served as President of Sumitomo Chemical’s Electronic Materials Business in the US (Sumika Electronic Materials).  During this time he was responsible for setting up the North American headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona and several acquisitions.  For 17 years prior to this Mr. LaCasse was with Olin Corporation.  During this time he successfully lead several stand-alone businesses.  He was responsible for several acquisitions and joint ventures during this time including Planar Solutions, a leading CMP slurry business. After taking on the responsibility for Asia for 5 years Mr. LaCasse was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the Division. When Olin spun off the microelectronics business into Arch Chemical, Jim remained as VP and General Manager until 2000 when he left to start a business in the fab services segment.  Jim has a BS Degree from LeMoyne College, MA and MBA from the Drucker School at the Claremont Graduate University.  He is a member of the NexPlanar Board and has served on several other Boards in both Japan and the US.

William Allison - Director, Product Development
Bill Allison leads the product technology team at NexPlanar and is responsible for pad product development.  He has been involved in CMP pad technology since 1999, and has worked in product development for 33 years.  Prior to joining NexPlanar, Bill was Manager of Pad Technology for PPG Industries.  Previous to this, he worked in a variety of areas, including inkjet-receptive coating, hair fixative resins, and surfactant development.  Bill is trained in lean enterprise and six sigma, and holds 9 US Patents.  He has a BS degree in Chemistry from Lehigh University and a MS in Chemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Robert Kerprich - VP Operations
Bob Kerprich is responsible for all operational and manufacturing activities at NexPlanar Corporation. Bob has over fifteen years experience in manufacturing and engineering. Prior to joining Nexplanar, Bob held the positions of Site and Operations Manager for Fujifilm Electronic Materials and Engineering Manager for Arch Chemicals. Previous to his positions in microelectronic materials, Bob worked at Eastman Kodak where he progressed through the engineering organization and became a six sigma black belt. His experience at Kodak includes technical support, process and product development, and international sales support for protective films used in the Liquid Crystal Display industry. Bob has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University and a MS in Computer Integrated Manufacturing from Rochester Institute of Technology.


Haluk Oran – VP Business Development
Haluk has the primary responsibility for growing Nexplanar’s business with end-users and technology partners by identifying and fully developing those opportunities that enhance the capability and profitability of both parties. Haluk was formerly with Planar Solutions, LLC as the Director of Sales and Marketing for that company’s line of copper CMP slurries. Haluk managed the successful sales growth for Planar Solutions from the 2000 and until this year when he joined Nexplanar. Prior to his position with Planar Solutions, Haluk held various sales, sales management and business development roles within Arch Chemicals and its predecessors in which he made significant contributions to the growth of those companies semiconductor industry related consumables including advanced photoresists and process chemicals. Haluk has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri.

David Davies – CFO
David is responsible for all finance and administrative functions at NexPlanar.  He brings over twenty years of management experience in a variety of venture funded high tech companies, including hardware, software and internet businesses.  David has raised numerous rounds of venture capital and has orchestrated the sale and acquisition of several companies.  Some of the companies David has been involved with prior to NexPlanar include Corrigo, a wireless, internet service provider of work order management software; Protools, a provider of network protocol analysis software; Photon Kinetics, a manufacturer of fiber optic test and measurement equipment; and Intel.  David has an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Williams College.

Alex Simpson – Director, Applications Engineering
Alex Simpson is responsible for all CMP polish operation activities at NexPlanar Corporation. This includes managing the applications group, developing polish processes, and customer applications support interactions. His experience comprises 15 years in the semiconductor industry working with recognized industry leaders in 200 mm and 300 mm R&D/mass production facilities.  Alex has worked at NEC, Infineon Technologies (East Fishkill), Cabot Microelectronics, Qimonda Richmond and Qimonda Dresden.  Currently, he has 12 issued US patents. Alex has a BSc Degree in Chemistry and Ph.D. In Physical Chemistry from Heriot-Watt University., UK.