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May 18, 2004...One of our very favorite and most level headed of all the people in this crazy business, Bill Kroll (William J.), is about to add yet another title to his impressive career in the semiconductor industry. In addition to being President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Matheson Tri-Gas Inc., which is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey USA, Bill is soon to be officially appointed to the Board of Directors of Matheson Tri-Gas' parent company, Nippon Sanso Corporation, one of world's leading industrial gas companies, and among other things, Nippon Sanso also makes MOCVD reactors. As you may recall from our January 6th news coverage, Matheson Tri-Gas, Nippon Sanso and Taiyo Toyo Sanso are soon to be merged into one even bigger entity called Nissan Taiyo Corporation.

The appointment of Bill to the Board of Directors will become official as of their June 29, 2004 shareholders' meeting. Commenting on Bill Kroll's expanding role within this interestingly expanding international entity, Mr. Hiroshi Taguchi, President and CEO of Nippon Sanso Corporation, said "The merger of Nippon Sanso and Taiyo Toyo will have a significant impact on the global industrial gas business, and Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc., will be our most important subsidiary company. I have recently elevated Bill Kroll to Chairman of Matheson Tri-Gas, and would now like him to represent Matheson Tri-Gas on the Nippon Sanso Board of Directors. Bill is well-known and respected in the global gas industry, with vast and proven experience. His understanding of gas technology and his vast network of industry professionals will prove essential to our growth strategies."

The Matheson Tri-Gas press release does an excellent job highlighting what those of us who know and love about "Kroll" (as he's so often referred to by his friends, given so many "Bill's" in our world)... his wealth of experience in the field. 'Kroll's experience spans 30 years and includes executive management in almost every area of business, including eleven years of service to Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc. Since March, Kroll has been Chairman, President & CEO of Matheson Tri-Gas, before which he served as President & CEO for two years, and before that, as Executive Vice President of Business Development for about 1 year.'

There's more... much more.... 'He also held Senior Vice President and Vice President positions from 1986 to 1994. During his hiatus from Matheson Tri-Gas, Kroll served as Executive Vice President of Business Development at EMCORE, where he was instrumental in taking that company public. He became a much sought after spokesperson for the technical community and was key in forming joint ventures, acquisitions and international distribution agreements. His more notable accomplishments were the formation of GELcore, the joint venture in solid-state lighting with General Electric Lighting; the joint venture with Uniroyal Technology Corp. in the formation of Uniroyal Optoelectronics, the maker of light emitting diode chips; and the joint venture with Union Miniere in the use of Germanium substrates for III-V devices. In April of 2004, Kroll was inducted into the New Jersey High Tech Hall of Fame.' (Ref our coverage).

What our readers of this column might also enjoy knowing is the personal side that continues to connect this editor with Bill Kroll. He's the one that convinced me to put my editorial credentials in the deep freeze for a couple of years in order to consult to Emcore just after they went public. I set up and oversaw Emcore's corporate communications. So Kroll ended up "my boss" for a time in the mid 1960s when so much was happening so fast, like the creation of GELcore and the huge buildup of MOCVD reactors in Taiwan. On that awesome Emcore team was Bob Walker and Alan Thompson. Bob, Alan and I are now all independents, and still working together on projects like Blue 2004. Bill Kroll remains our mentor.

Another tie is Bill Kroll's affiliation with Northwestern, where my mother and my uncles attended. My uncles were famous Northwestern athletes in their day. It has remained an incredible university just outside Chicago, Illinois. Bill did his undergraduate and graduate work at Northwestern. He has also distinguished himself as an author having now penned more than 50 papers in the areas of physical and chemical vapor deposition for semiconductor technology and is a member of IEEE, SEMI, SPIE, SAE, The Electrochemical Society and MRS. He has served on the Boards of the AeA, CGA, Princeton Photonics, Optoelectronics Materials Center and Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc.

So our congratulations, once again, to Bill Kroll. One of the nicest guys you'd ever want to know. So many of us in this industry are proud to call him a true friend.

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