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Susan Hardman is using the know-how she's gained in more than twenty years in the semiconductor industry to re-engage Intersil Corp (Milpitas, CA) in the automotive analog business. Hardman is VP/GM of Intersil's automotive and specialty products group, which was formed in February 2006 to develop new semiconductor products for global customers.
Although Intersil has been in the automotive semiconductor business a long time, Hardman notes that it sold off the business in 2001 and hadn't made any new investments in the area. Recently, the company assessed the technology transitions in the automotive industry and came to the conclusion that the automotive market aligns well with Intersil's core competencies and could produce more than $100 million in business, so it formed the new group.
Focus on high-end features
Intersil is a global technology company specializing in design and manufacture of high-performance analog semiconductors. Its products serve three of the industry's fastest growing markets: flat-panel displays, portable handheld devices, and power management.
The automotive and specialty products group that Hardman manages focuses on high-end vehicle features like LCD displays for driver assistance, "infotainment" and in-vehicle navigation systems. One of Intersil's exciting new products is a high-speed link between front-end control units and displays for drivers and passengers.
High-level problem solving
The group manager's job requires a lot of travel and meetings, and about half of Hardman's working days are spent on the road. The other half involves meetings, coaching and mentoring in addition to her responsibility for overseeing marketing, applications, product design and product engineering. She has three direct reports, and they oversee about twenty additional people.
"As a manager, I'm involved with solving problems that have already gone through several people and are not yet resolved. If I can't resolve them, they go to the CEO," Hardman says.
Hardman moved from VP of corporate marketing into her VP/GM role. She says she likes "getting the team jazzed" about new products as well as the revenue and profitability goals they're trying to accomplish.
One current project is a chip that converts parallel streams into a single serial stream, which lets automakers reduce harness wiring within the car. "Our alpha customers are evaluating it, and we expect to release it to production this summer," she says.
Passion for chemistry
Hardman, an Indiana native, is the oldest of four children. She had a passion for chemistry and received her BSChE from Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN) in 1983.
Her first job was with Motorola Inc (Phoenix, AZ) as one of twenty new engineering grads brought in for a rotational program. "They planned for me to work as a process engineer in their wafer fab but I was not excited about it. I wanted a technical role that also involved business, so I moved into product engineering," Hardman explains.
In 1985 she became an option development engineer in Motorola's gate array products group, developing custom chips for super mainframe computers. She found she loved traveling to customer sites and interacting with the customers.
The move to VLSI
In 1989 she completed an MBA from the University of Phoenix (Phoenix, AZ), and moved to VLSI Technology Inc (San Jose, CA). She stayed there until 1997, working in the government and secure products division for the first five years.
"I was back in product engineering, doing custom chips geared toward military applications," she says. She moved from senior product engineer to product engineering manager, then ops manager of a group that prototyped and released ASICs to manufacturing.
Launching a French connection
In 1994 VLSI sent Hardman to France to establish a wireless technology business. As product line manager of the wireless products division, she managed a design team that specialized in chips for cordless phones. Twelve nationalities were represented at the facility, and English was the common language, although not well understood by all.
She managed about twenty people and saw the site grow to 200 over a two-year period. "It was a fabulous opportunity," she says. "Having international management experience is key in this industry."
All the same, it was sometimes harrowing. "My degree was in ChE and I was managing a group of EEs. The challenge was building mutual respect," she says.
Product marketing
She came to San Jose, CA in 1996 as director of product marketing for VLSI's network products division, responsible for new pricing and positioning of ASIC products.
The next year she moved to Exar Corp (Fremont, CA) at the request of its CEO, a former mentor at VLSI. She started as director of marketing in the communications division, then became VP of corporate marketing.
That, she notes, is "a totally different role. It involves putting together a communication plan, advertising, tradeshows, websites and public relations, all at the corporate level."
Next she was VP/GM of Exar's interface products division, driving $47 million in sales. "I enjoyed the role but felt my skills could be applied to a larger organization," she says.
On to Intersil
She found her opportunity at Intersil, where she came in as VP of corporate marketing in 2004 and then moved into her VP/GM job.
"I suspect I will move in and out of these roles going forward. My long-term objective is to be a CEO, so the role of the VP/GM does more to round out that skill set," Hardman says.
At Intersil there are many women in leadership roles, Hardman notes with pride. They include the VP of IT and several director-level positions. The company has also brought in a lot of women engineers in the past couple of years.
Working with women
Outside work Hardman volunteers with the MentorNet program for women in engineering and science. She has been working with a Purdue student from Nigeria for several years. "She has no family in the States, so our relationship has evolved into a close friendship," she says with a smile.
She tells her mentees that there's "no specific formula" for getting into management, but developing a network, finding a mentor and a coach and gaining experience in a variety of roles "should help you obtain your career objectives."
Obviously, that's her own game plan. Intersil is a large organization that offers the resources of a public company but all the fun of a startup, she says. "We're running a thousand miles an hour and we have a lot of talent on the business and the technical sides. My team is great!"
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