Bob Ferguson is President and CEO of Schmid Systems Inc., part of the Schmid Group based Freudenstadt, Germany. He oversees US operations and drives growth for the company’s manufacturing solutions in the Electronics, Photovoltaics, Energy Systems and Customer Service markets.

A seasoned executive with a distinguished 30-year track record in the specialty chemicals and electronic materials sectors, Bob’s combined corporate and consulting expertise includes strategic planning, sales and marketing excellence, M&A due diligence and integration, Asia sourcing strategies and human capital.

Bob previously served as Executive Vice President Electronic Materials & Asia, Avantor Performance Materials where led the turn-around of the semiconductor business. Prior to this appointment and China-based, he was Corporate Vice President, Asia Development at Veeco Instruments and Corporate Vice President, Electronic Materials, and Global Business Unit Director at Dow Chemicals.

Bob is a prior Board Member and former Chair for IPC International (www.ipc.org), an electronics standards and trade association, as well as the founder of boutique consultancy, BreakFree Strategies. Additionally, he served as a Board Member and Chair of Nichigo Morton, a Japanese based joint venture between Rohm and Haas (now Dow Chemicals) and Nippon Gosai.

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