The chief executive who helped put Lattice Semiconductor Corp. back on its feet despite a global recession is leaving the company for the top job at another semiconductor firm.
Bruno Guilmart tendered this resignation and will leave the Hillsboro company Sept. 4, the company announced Friday. Christopher Fanning, a Lattice vice president, will take over as interim CEO while the company launches a formal search.
Guilmart, who was hired at Lattice after working as CEO of a semiconductor company based in Malaysia, will relocate to Singapore to lead Kulicke & Soffa, which makes equipment for manufacturing semiconductors and LEDs.
K&S is currently based in Pennsylvania, but will move its global headquarters to Singapore next year.
At Lattice, most employees found out about the resignation at an all-employee meeting Friday afternoon.
"The change is rather sudden. For most employees, we just literally found about this at 1:30," Lattice marketing Vice President Doug Hunter said. "People, you know, they're just processing right now."
At the meeting, Hunter said, board Chairman Patrick Jones told employees Guilmart wasn't forced out, and he praised Guilmart's work at the company.
: Interim chief executive of Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
Fanning said the strategy developed under Guilmart wouldn't be changing.
"I'm personally disappointed because I enjoyed working with Bruno," he said. "But of course, life goes on. No one person is indispensable to the company."
Guilmart joined Lattice when it was coming off 10 years of losing quarters that began in 2001. In 2005, the company had fired CEO Cyrus Tsui after shareholder lawsuits over the company's high executive pay and spending. His successor, Steve Skaggs, was fired in 2008 when after the company's financials failed to improve.
Early in his tenure, Guilmart laid off 14 percent of Lattice's workforce and streamlined the operation, in part by moving the company's chip warehouse to Singapore. He moved the company into less competitive markets using chips that could be reprogrammed for different tasks, reducing development costs.
"Bruno was hired to get Lattice back on its feet," Hunter said. "He brought us back to profitability and positioned Lattice for success."
In July, Lattice reported its third-straight quarterly profit, and its sales were up 64 percent from a year earlier. Hunter said the company would continue the strategies Guilmart helped develop, and even try to execute it faster. He said the company's board would launching its search for a new CEO immediately, but no timetable has been set.
Fanning said the board would consider both internal and external candidates, and that he would be interested in taking the position permanently if it were offered, but that he's focusing on running the company.
"Frankly, Bruno's departure is a catalyst to get the leadership team thinking even faster and harder," he said. "It's been kind of a whirlwind 24 hours, and I'm actually pretty exhilarated."
He said the company's goal would be to accelerate growth in its core markets.
"We're very profitable, so we're not looking to cut out costs," he said. "We're looking at, how do we apply our existing resources more effectively?"
Richard Shannon, an analyst for Northland Securities who covers semiconductor companies, said the Guilmart's departure probably won't mean trouble ahead for the company.
"The CEO, in my opinion, has done a very good job of repositioning the company from a strategic and executive point of view over the past couple of years," Shannon said. "When a guy like that leaves, it's not great news, but I also think he's done a great job placing good people in the second ranks of the management team."
"I don't think the company is going to miss a beat here," he added.
In a news release, Jones said he was confident in Fanning's leadership, calling him "a proven Lattice executive respected by his peers and our customers, and one of the key executives driving our successful turnaround."
Fanning has worked at Lattice since 1997, during which time he's served in several vice president and corporate vice president roles. Before joining Lattice, he worked at The Boston Consulting Group.
"Chris is a good guy," Hunter said. "He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he understands our business."
Lattice slipped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading, falling 30 cents to $5.14.