Hector Ruiz

Dr. Hector de Jesus Ruiz (born December 25, 1945) is the executive chairman and former CEO of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD).

Ruiz was born in the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. As a teenager, he walked across the United States-Mexico border every day to attend a high school in nearby Eagle Pass, Texas, from which he graduated as valedictorian just three years after beginning to learn English. Ruiz earned a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1968 and 1970 respectively and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Rice University in 1973. He worked at Texas Instruments for six years and Motorola for 22 years, rising to become president of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector before being recruited in 2000 by AMD founder Jerry Sanders to serve as AMD's president and chief operating officer, and to become heir apparent to lead the company upon Sanders' retirement. Ruiz succeeded Sanders in the CEO's seat in 2002, and was named chairman of the board in 2004.

At the 2004 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ruiz announced AMD's 50x15, intended to bring affordable computing and Internet access to 50 percent of the world's population by the year 2015.

Ruiz currently is on the Eastman Kodak Company Board of Directors and the Board of Directors for the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Ruiz oversaw some of AMD's best financial quarters, but also endorsed the decision to buy ATI, which led to a period of financial reverses. Ruiz survived rumors of his ouster in late 2007. [http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9687] [http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1153631020071211] . However, he resigned as CEO on July 18, 2008, after AMD reported its seventh consecutive quarterly loss. [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/technology/18amd.html
title=Advanced Micro Chief Steps Down After Another Loss
publisher=The New York Times/Reuters
date=2008-07-18
accessdate=2008-07-18]

References

External links

* [http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/AboutAMD/0,,51_52_570_11569,00.html AMD: Hector Ruiz]
* [http://50x15.amd.com/ 50x15 initiative]
* [http://www.amdboard.com/ruizspecial.html Hector Ruiz data and list of interviews]