NEC Electronics America’s automotive and general-purpose microcontroller (MCU) strategic business unit will be steered by Jim Trent, who departs his former role as Associate Vice President of the automotive unit to take up the post of Vice President of the unit, reporting to company President and CEO Yuichi Kawakami. 

Also announced is the promotion of Sam Trinch to General Manager of the automotive business unit, while General Manager Bart Ladd takes over the running of a new section comprising account development, field applications engineering and corporate distribution sales.

Jim Trent, an employee of NEC Electronics since 2003, joined the company as a Senior Engineering Manager and was promoted to General Manager in 2004 and Associate VP in 2006. A much-published author and member of IEEE, Mr. Trent has a B.Sc. in electrical and computer engineering from Kansas State University.

Sam Trinch has been with NEC since 2005 when he joined as Global Account Manager. His most recent role was as Director of Sales for the automotive group, and his recent promotion will see him apply his 15 years’ experience to his General Manager post. He has two B.Sc. degrees, one in electrical engineering and the other in engineering and public policy, both from Carnegie Mellon University.

Bart Ladd, former General Manager of the company’s standard solutions strategic business unit, also worked as a semiconductor industry analyst with Dataquest (now Gartner, Inc.). He will apply his experience to his new role as head of the newly-established account development and applications organization.

NEC Electronics America, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Electronics Corporation, a manufacturer of semiconductor products.

By Síle Mc Mahon