WICHITA, Kan. — Nitride Solutions Inc. — a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced nitride substrates for LEDs, lasers, and power electronics — announced that Teresa Esser and Andy Hannah have joined its board of directors.
Nitride Solutions CEO Jeremy Jones said their combined expertise will be a tremendous asset to the board.
“It is very exciting to me to have Teresa and Andy join our board,” Jones said. “Teresa brings great knowledge of corporate governance, finance, and Asian business, and Andy has an extensive background in starting, growing, and exiting successful businesses. Andy’s experience in the electronic materials space will be of immense benefit to us as we scale the business and accelerate growth.”
TERESA ESSER
Esser is the managing director of both the Greenpoint Global Mittelstand Fund and Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network. During her career as an angel investor and venture capitalist, Esser has led investments in BioSystem Development, LLC (now part of Agilent); Genii, Inc. (where she serves on the board of directors); HarQen, Inc.; Intuitive BioSciences, Inc.; and Hardcore Computer (now LiquidCool Solutions, Inc.).
During the past 12 years, Esser has led or participated in 16 other early-stage investments. Beginning in 1999, Esser researched and wrote a book about how MIT students commercialize their ideas and how venture capitalists decide in whom to invest. “The Venture Café: Secrets, Strategies, and Stories from America's High-Tech Entrepreneurs” was published by Warner Business Books in 2002.
The ideas in “The Venture Café” and the brand surrounding the book were turned into a real-world Venture Café in Boston's Kendall Square. The café’s Thursday evening networking events include free beer and coffee, and draw upwards of 200 entrepreneurs, corporate lawyers, VCs, and angel investors.
ANDY HANNAH
Hannah has had C-level roles at four high tech start-ups, touching a range of industries such as information, software, consulting, and materials science. In 2014, Hannah co-founded OThot, a predictive and prescriptive analytics company that helps customers predict, understand, and change the future through a proprietary process that leverages state-of-the-art data mining and analytics tools.
Prior to OThot, Hannah was the co-founder and CEO of Plextronics, a global materials science company focused on OLED flat panel displays and lithium-ion batteries. Plextronics raised angel, venture, and strategic capital and was sold in March 2014 to Solvay, a Belgian chemistry company.
Hannah has worked successfully with prominent venture firms such as Trident Capital, Advent International, Safeguard Scientific, Draper Triangle, and Birchmere, as well as with leading leverage buyout companies including Vestar and corporate VCs such as Samsung and Applied Materials.
Hannah is a board member and advisor to a number of creative and prominent organizations such as the Katz Graduate School of Business, Liquid X Printed Metals, Etcetera Edutainment, and Niche.com. He has also served as a board member of the Organic Electronics Association (vice chair), the Pennsylvania Nanomaterials Commercialization Center, Leadership Pittsburgh, Leadership Development Initiative (co-founder), the Executive Steering Committee of Pittsburgh’s Tech-based Economic Development Strategy, and others.
ABOUT NITRIDE SOLUTIONS
Nitride Solutions’ core focus is developing volume production processes that will bring new aluminum nitride products to advanced electronics markets and enable goods that address global needs for safe water and air, more reliable power generation and transmission, and higher-speed communications.
Nitride Solutions commercializes aluminum nitride products that help solve critical problems in electronics, such as how to generate new wavelengths of light, control megawatt power levels, and effectively insulate high voltages while enhancing a device’s ability to reduce heat.
Founded in 2009, Nitride Solutions’ leadership has 35-plus years of experience in supplying advanced materials to global manufacturers of semiconductor, display, and memory devices, combined with a total of more than 35 years in nitride process development. The company maintains strong ties to Kansas State University in Manhattan, with key employees and advisors hailing from the university.
Nitride Solutions CEO Jeremy Jones said their combined expertise will be a tremendous asset to the board.
“It is very exciting to me to have Teresa and Andy join our board,” Jones said. “Teresa brings great knowledge of corporate governance, finance, and Asian business, and Andy has an extensive background in starting, growing, and exiting successful businesses. Andy’s experience in the electronic materials space will be of immense benefit to us as we scale the business and accelerate growth.”
TERESA ESSER
Esser is the managing director of both the Greenpoint Global Mittelstand Fund and Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network. During her career as an angel investor and venture capitalist, Esser has led investments in BioSystem Development, LLC (now part of Agilent); Genii, Inc. (where she serves on the board of directors); HarQen, Inc.; Intuitive BioSciences, Inc.; and Hardcore Computer (now LiquidCool Solutions, Inc.).
During the past 12 years, Esser has led or participated in 16 other early-stage investments. Beginning in 1999, Esser researched and wrote a book about how MIT students commercialize their ideas and how venture capitalists decide in whom to invest. “The Venture Café: Secrets, Strategies, and Stories from America's High-Tech Entrepreneurs” was published by Warner Business Books in 2002.
The ideas in “The Venture Café” and the brand surrounding the book were turned into a real-world Venture Café in Boston's Kendall Square. The café’s Thursday evening networking events include free beer and coffee, and draw upwards of 200 entrepreneurs, corporate lawyers, VCs, and angel investors.
ANDY HANNAH
Hannah has had C-level roles at four high tech start-ups, touching a range of industries such as information, software, consulting, and materials science. In 2014, Hannah co-founded OThot, a predictive and prescriptive analytics company that helps customers predict, understand, and change the future through a proprietary process that leverages state-of-the-art data mining and analytics tools.
Prior to OThot, Hannah was the co-founder and CEO of Plextronics, a global materials science company focused on OLED flat panel displays and lithium-ion batteries. Plextronics raised angel, venture, and strategic capital and was sold in March 2014 to Solvay, a Belgian chemistry company.
Hannah has worked successfully with prominent venture firms such as Trident Capital, Advent International, Safeguard Scientific, Draper Triangle, and Birchmere, as well as with leading leverage buyout companies including Vestar and corporate VCs such as Samsung and Applied Materials.
Hannah is a board member and advisor to a number of creative and prominent organizations such as the Katz Graduate School of Business, Liquid X Printed Metals, Etcetera Edutainment, and Niche.com. He has also served as a board member of the Organic Electronics Association (vice chair), the Pennsylvania Nanomaterials Commercialization Center, Leadership Pittsburgh, Leadership Development Initiative (co-founder), the Executive Steering Committee of Pittsburgh’s Tech-based Economic Development Strategy, and others.
ABOUT NITRIDE SOLUTIONS
Nitride Solutions’ core focus is developing volume production processes that will bring new aluminum nitride products to advanced electronics markets and enable goods that address global needs for safe water and air, more reliable power generation and transmission, and higher-speed communications.
Nitride Solutions commercializes aluminum nitride products that help solve critical problems in electronics, such as how to generate new wavelengths of light, control megawatt power levels, and effectively insulate high voltages while enhancing a device’s ability to reduce heat.
Founded in 2009, Nitride Solutions’ leadership has 35-plus years of experience in supplying advanced materials to global manufacturers of semiconductor, display, and memory devices, combined with a total of more than 35 years in nitride process development. The company maintains strong ties to Kansas State University in Manhattan, with key employees and advisors hailing from the university.
Contact:
Jeremy Jones - Nitride Solutions
+1-316-260-5228
E-mail:
Web site:
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