Odyssey Appoints Mark Davidson as CEO
US power GaN start-up appoints experienced Silicon Valley growth leader
Odyssey Semiconductor Technologies, a US start-up developing high-voltage, vertical power switching components based on proprietary GaN processing technology, has appointed Mark Davidson as its new CEO and member of the board of directors.
He succeeds Rick Brown, the company’s co-founder, who served as interim CEO since September 2021. Brown will continue as the company’s CTO and board member.
“Mark is known for his versatility to transform businesses into highly successful operations – having spent nearly twenty years working in Silicon Valley,” said Rick Brown, co-founder, CTO, and Board member. “When I met Mark, I knew that he was the right leader for us to realise the vision we had when Odyssey was founded and that his leadership and experience will help our company achieve its full potential.”
“Mark joins Odyssey at an exciting time for the company,” said John Edmunds, chairman of the Board. “Odyssey is on-track to deliver 1200 V vertical GaN FETs in 2022 for a handful of customers who have already requested engineering samples.”
“I am thrilled to be joining Odyssey at such an important time for the company. I am excited to work closely with the board of directors and passionate employees as we grow and create value for our customers and shareholders,” said Mark Davidson. “The time for GaN is now, and we are confident that Odyssey’s approach with vertical GaN will be appreciated and widely adopted by the market.”
Davidson comes to Odyssey as an experienced growth leader. Before joining Odyssey, Davidson served as the chief revenue officer of DreamVu where he led commercialisation and spearheaded revenue generation from scratch. He led the global sales expansion through his vast knowledge of global markets.
Prior to DreamVu, Davidson served as CEO of Range Networks, where he pivoted the company’s business model based on Range Networks’ technology leadership and the market opportunity. The pivot not only resulted in a surge in revenue and profitability, but it ultimately led Range Networks to be acquired by an exciting and fast-growing company.
Davidson also brings success and experience in the power semiconductor space. He has previously served as Intel's (through Intel’s acquisition of Altera) VP/general manager, Global Power Products Business Organisation, where he directed the transformation of a start-up company into a high-growth enterprise. Additionally, he has served as Texas Instruments’ regional sales and applications engineering director, National Semiconductor’s marketing director/product line director, Visteon’s Australian customer liaison engineer, and Ford Motor Company’s product cesign engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Davidson will operate from Odyssey’s Ithaca, New York facility, which is the location of the company’s global headquarters and its wafer fabrication facility.
Odyssey has developed a proprietary technology that is designed to allow for GaN to replace SiC as a high-voltage power switching semiconductor material (see picture above). Based in Ithaca, NY, the company owns and operates a 10,000 sq. ft. semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility complete with a mix of class 1,000 and class 10,000 clean space.
