Belgium leader honoured
24 November 2009
Something that is not often discussed in the electronics press is the issue of management.
Companies are often set-up, according to the stereotype, by clever people in sandals who blunder around with their good idea until someone, usually from overseas, comes in with the finance and the focus to give it the necessary sense of direction.
Very few managers ever get management training and often senior management roles are given to those from a commercial, rather than an engineering, background. So I was struck by the following release from IMEC, who (this week) are recognising the career of Willem P. Roelandts.
The release reads: “On 24 November, Rector Mark Waer will confer the degree of doctor honoris causa on Willem P. Roelandts. Willem P. Roelandts is the former chair of the Board of Governors and CEO of Xilinx, one of the world’s leading businesses in the microelectronics industry. The executive will be awarded the honorary doctorate for his implementation of management and leadership styles that stimulate innovation whilst also prioritising human values in corporate culture.
Xilinx is both a pioneer company and the market leader of a particular type of reprogrammable chip namely field-programmable gate area or FPGA. Xilinx’s turnover tripled under Roelandts’ management, despite a number of crises in the electronics industry. Willem P. Roelandts’ success as a Flemish senior executive in the heart of Silicon Valley is remarkable. His unique and personal management style earned him an immense amount of respect from both his colleagues and his employees. In 2008, Roelandts chaired the Semiconductor Industry Association interest group.”
Roelandts joined Xilinx in 1996 after a stellar career with Hewlett-Packard and along with the commercial and technological achievements he stimulated at Xilinx, he also left the legacy of a company that people wanted to work for – Fortune magazine includes Xilinx in its best US companies to work for, while Forbes magazine places the companies as one of the best in America and Roelandts (previously) as one of the top business leaders.
It is obviously nice for Belgium-based IMEC to be honouring one of their own, but I suspect that Roelandts was destined to ‘make it’ irrespective of the country he came from, the one he ended up in, or even the industry he graced for over four decades. You can train people to have good management skills, but there are some natural born leaders, of which Roelandts is clearly one, that have the skills that can’t be taught.
Contact Details and Archive...
Most Viewed Articles...
