Management Team
Ray Sharpe
Chief Executive Officer
Ray is CEO of Isola Group S.a.r.l. with worldwide responsibility for Isola which has offices and manufacturing in Europe, Asia and the U.S. His strategic vision is to increase Isola's investment in technology, focusing on the high performance laminate products, as well as to build a strong operating performance based on Lean and 6 Sigma methods. The strategy for investment in new and high performance materials was further strengthened by the recent acquisition of a fiberglass cloth manufacturer. The new company is now called Isola Fabrics S.r.l. and is located in Milan, Italy.
Before assuming his current position in June of 2004, Ray was CEO of Cookson Electronics and a board Director of Cookson Group Plc for over ten years. In his position at Cookson, Sharpe built the company into a leading global supplier of materials and equipment servicing the PWB, PWB Assembly and Semiconductor packaging markets.
Manufacturing in over 20 countries sales exceeded one billion dollars. Prior to the CEO position, and during his 27 years with Cookson, he held several sector and divisional positions in Cookson.
Ray also served 10 years as Director for SPS Technologies a NYSE listed manufacturer of specialty materials for the aerospace industry. He is now a director of Cytec a specialty chemicals company listed on the NYSE.
Ray is a graduate of East Carolina University and has over 27 years of experience in the electronics industry.
Gordon Bitter
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Gordon joined Isola in January 2008 as its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Isola, Gordon spent five years as Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Plexus Corp located in Neenah, Wisconsin. Plexus is a publicly traded, $1.6 billion contract manufacturer of high-end technology products servicing the wireless infrastructure, networking, medical and industrial/aerospace markets. Prior to his tenure at Plexus, Gordon was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Hadco, a printed circuit board manufacturer.
Gordon received his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Bucknell University.
Tarun Amla
Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Tarun is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the Isola Group. He is responsible for Global Research & Technology and Global OEM Marketing. His primary focus is managing New Product development and their introduction and marketing.
Tarun joined Norplex Oak India in 1987, a joint venture with AlliedSignal, as a Process Engineer. He has since held positions of increasing responsibility within the corporation including Country Manager AlliedSignal Laminate Systems in India, Director of Operations in Singapore, Director Specialty Products La Crosse USA, VP Marketing and Technology for Isola Laminate Systems and most recently Vice President of Operations and Technology for Isola Laminate Systems.
During his 20 years in the electronics industry, Tarun has gained extensive experience in General Management, Manufacturing Operations, Engineering & Product Technology, Marketing and Business Development. His areas of specific technical expertise include heat and mass transfer, process design, material and polymer science, operations research, process simulation and modeling.
Tarun holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from REC Calicut, University of Calicut, India and a Masters Degree in Engineering from Arizona State University in Modeling and Simulation.
Eric Seip
Vice President & Officer, Global Supply Chain & Operations
Eric currently holds the position of Vice President and Officer, Global Operations & Supply Chain, where he is responsible for all Global Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, Quality and EH&S.
Since joining Isola in June 2004, Eric has also held the position of Vice President of Global Operations where he lead the Operations Team in their efforts to improve cost competitiveness, higher throughput rates, and better quality for our customers through the implementation of The isola Production System (TiPS). Isola's acquisition of Polyclad Laminates in April 2006 found Eric successfully leading the company's global integration efforts.
Prior to joining Isola, Eric was a Founding Partner at CovalenTech LLC, a technology products and services company, from 2000-2004; Vice President, Operations at Polyclad Laminates from 1990-2000; and held various positions at Yates Industries (CA) from 1987-1990.
Eric received his Masters in Business Administration, Finance from Pepperdine University and a BS in Chemistry from University of Pittsburgh.
He was a certified Professor at the University of Phoenix teaching Change Management and Business Strategy, as well as an inventor holding multiple International Patents on Reverse Treat Copper Foil used in the production of multilayer PWBs.
Matt LaRont
President, North America
Matt LaRont was named President of Isola Group, North America in February of 2007, and is also a member of the Global Leadership Group and the Executive Committee. In his role, Matt is responsible for all aspects of the North America Operations and its four factories.
With over 21 years of industry related understanding, Matt offers a broad range of expertise to Isola having held positions in Finance, Global Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and Operations. Matt has traveled abroad extensively for the past 15 years throughout Asia Pacific, India, Philippines, Korea and Japan. Matt was stationed in Asia from 2002 to 2007, living in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Prior to joining Isola, Matt held various positions with Solectron Corporation as Director of Global Materials, General Manager (IPO) Taiwan, Sanmina (Hadco) as Director of Sales, PCB Operations, and Praegitzer Industries as Regional Sales Manager for the West Coast and Financial Controller. Matt joined Isola in 2004 as Vice President of Global OEM Marketing and shortly thereafter relocated to Asia where he assumed the role of Vice President of Sales and OEM Marketing, Asia Pacific Region.
Matt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from Trinity University, Texas and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Willamette University, Oregon and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt.
Matt is committed to the unsurpassed safety of our employees, providing a competitive advantage to our U.S. based customers, and being environmentally responsible.
Augusto Meozzi
President, Europe Isola Group
Augusto is President of Isola Group Europe where he is responsible for overseeing all operations of the European divisions of Isola.
Prior to his current position, Augusto held several positions within Isola, the last being President and CEO in Chandler, Arizona. He is a past member of the Executive Board and has held positions as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Isola AG, Germany.
Before being acquired by Isola in 1981, Augusto was CEO of Group MAS, S.P.A. in Florence, Italy.
Augusto's activities include being a member of the Board of Directors of PENTAIR INC. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a company listed on the NYSE. He is also Chairman of the International Committee, a Member of the Audit Committee and a Member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Augusto received his diploma on Foreign Trade released by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Trade. He is also a Certified Public Account and studied Economy Commercial and Civil Law at the University of Florence Italy. Augusto is fluent in English, French and German.
Bob Haskins
President, Asia Pacific
Bob joined Isola in April 2006 with the acquisition of Polyclad Laminates. As President of Isola Asia Pacific, Bob is responsible for managing all operations for the Isola business in the Asia Pacific Region.
Prior to joining Isola, Bob served as Managing Director for Polyclad Asia managing all aspects of the Asian operations. During his tenure, he helped to grow the business from US$2.5million to more than US$130 million in sales. Bob transferred to Polyclad in 1996 as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Asia and later became responsible for managing the sales and service of the Enthone(R) PWB chemistry business throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Prior to joining Polyclad, Bob was part of the Alpha Fry group, which he joined in 1988. He held various key positions in operations, sales and business development in the Americas as well as Europe where he held positions in both the UK and France.
Bob earned an MS in Management and Business Administration from the University of Texas and he graduated with honors earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College. Bob currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the American Club in Hong Kong.
Richard Caron
Chief Information Officer
Rich joined Isola in April 2006 with the acquisition of Polyclad Laminates. As CIO of Isola Group, Rich is responsible for global information technology for the company.
Prior to joining Isola, Rich was responsible for global information technology at Polyclad Laminates. During this time, he adopted additional responsibilities for Enthone® PWB chemistry business in directing system ERP consolidation, B2B strategy and the adoption of global IT controls. Prior to joining Polyclad, Rich was part of Schneider Automation, which he joined in 1988. He held various technical and managerial positions in information technology.
Rich has over twenty years experience in the IT field, and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Computer Science and Business from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.
Rich has training in lean operations, is a Six Sigma Green Belt and Champion, and is Certified in Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). Rich is focused on bringing business value through IT governance, IT alignment, and the disciplines of global consolidation.
Brian McDermott
Vice President Sales & Technical Support, Americas
Brian, a native of Ireland, joined Isola Group in April 2005. Brian has 18 years prior experience in the electronics industry holding a series of engineering, technology development, marketing and sales management positions with OEM and PCB fabrication companies in Europe, US and Asia.
Prior to joining Isola, Brian held positions of Vice President, Sales with Elec & Eltek and Vice President, Engineering Services with DDi, with divisional P&L responsibilities. He held previous technical marketing, applications engineering, process development and quality roles at Continental Circuits and Digital Equipment Corp. In the fields of High Density and High Speed PCB Technology, Brian holds one patent and has presented and published over 20 papers and articles for conferences and journals.
Brian holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University College Galway, Ireland and an MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Limerick, Ireland. Brian also earned an MBA from University of Phoenix, with a concentration on Technology Management.