Cirrus Logic Names Eric Swanson Chief Technical Officer

Cirrus Logic Inc. announced the appointment of Eric Swanson, 41, to senior vice president and chief technical officer (CTO), a new position reporting to Michael L. Hackworth, president and CEO. In assuming the top engineering post, Swanson will oversee Cirrus Logic's product development with a focus on improving technical execution and optimizing the company's return from its total R&D investment.

Swanson joined Crystal Semiconductor as employee number 12 in 1985, and quickly became the startup's vice president of technology. Following Cirrus Logic's acquisition of Crystal in 1991, he was instrumental in facilitating the application of powerful mixed-signal design techniques across Cirrus Logic's broad product portfolio. Prior to joining Crystal, he served five years with Bell Laboratories, where he became the youngest design manager and developed a long-running training seminar on "Analog and VLSI Analysis & Design."

An IEEE member for nearly two decades, Swanson is widely published as a technical author and holds more than 29 patents. He has been a regular participant in the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), the premiere forum for the debut of integrated circuit innovations, and won recognition for "Best ISSCC Evening Panel" four times between 1990 and 1995.

Holding a BSEE from Michigan State University and a MSEE from the California Institute of Technology, Swanson enjoys participating on student dissertation committees at the University of Texas. He also writes occasional poetry, fiction and political commentary for the Hays County Free Press, a community newspaper.

Cirrus Logic is a supplier of system-level integrated circuits that demand high-performance mixed-signal processing. The company applies its system expertise to enable high-volume applications in data storage, networking, and multimedia for both computing and consumer electronics markets as well as ultra-precision data acquisition applications for industrial automation and instrumentation markets.