Mission Critical Reliability.
Lower System Cost.
Zero Compromise.

Chief Executive Officer

David Briggs has 34 years of semiconductor industry experience ranging from design to global business management. Mr. Briggs spent 20 years at Texas Instruments where he held various technical and business roles starting as an analog designer and finishing his career at Texas Instrument as the General Manager of the Analog Wireless Infrastructure Business Unit, driving 300% revenue growth over a 5-year period. Upon his departure from Texas Instruments, Mr. Briggs lead several startups until joining Active-Semi, Inc. as the General Manager and VP of Sales and Marketing. His leadership at Active-Semi, Inc. resulted in 300% revenue growth over a 5-year period and was instrumental in driving the company’s successful acquisition by Qorvo. David received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University and a master’s degree in business administration from The University of Texas, Austin. David has 12 patents issued in the areas of semiconductor devices, ESD structures, and circuits.

Director Engineering

Brett Smith joined Apogee Semiconductor in 2024 as the Director of Engineering. Mr. Smith has more than 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry focused on the design and development of highly integrated mixed signal and power products for consumer and automotive applications. Before joining Apogee, Brett was the Engineering Director for Active-Semi Inc., a programmable analog power and motor drive IC semiconductor company purchased by Qorvo in May 2019 where he continued in that role for 3 additional years. In Brett’s 6 years at Active-Semi he grew and developed the engineering team to improve execution and increase quantity and quality of the product designs, helping grow Active-Semi revenue 500%. Prior to Active-Semi, Brett worked at Texas Instruments where he was the design manager for Custom Mixed Signal and Power products, growing the team and enabling revenue to growth of 10x. Brett holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Iowa State University and has 35 issued US patents.

Lead Architect

David has 40 years of professional electronic engineering experience, with the last 29 years being in the semiconductor industry, including digital and analog R&D and testing. Before joining Apogee, he worked at Texas Instruments where he designed and led designs for LDOs, PCMCIA switches, POL buck controllers, integrated FET buck converters, integrated IF transceivers and a re-configurable, mixed signal power control IC platform. He was also an active participant in the development of BCD silicon processes at TI for feature sizes from 2um through 130nm. He is one of the co-inventors of the foundational isolated drain LDMOS structure used extensively in integrated FET switching converters. At FINsix, David recruited and managed the IC design department, while also performing the role of technical lead on the custom ASICs required by the company. He also acted as the main contact with silicon foundries and packaging companies. At Apogee Semiconductor, he is lead architect. David has 36 issued US patents and a legacy of dozens of successful products. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, UK, graduating BSc(Hons).

Director Operations

Abhijeet Ghoshal joined Apogee Semiconductor in 2019 from the University of Texas at Dallas. Mr. Ghoshal is a driven semiconductor professional with a proven track record of technical innovation and leadership. Abhijeet’s contributions have been instrumental in shaping Apogee Semiconductor’s product offerings and operational excellence. As principal investigator for a $1.25 million NSF-funded research project, Abhijeet led the development of advanced semiconductor packaging solutions for extreme environments, resulting in two granted patents. Abhijeet holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Dallas, where he was a recipient of the Academic Excellence Scholarship. As a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt and Project Management Professional (PMP), he combines technical expertise with operational leadership to drive innovation and deliver impactful results in the aerospace and defense industries.

Director Human Resources

D’Audrey (Dee) Hunter is the Personnel Director for Apogee Semiconductor with over 40 years of experience in Human Resources. Prior to Apogee, Mrs. Hunter worked at Texas Instruments supporting various organizations for over 33 years and Active Semiconductor as the VP of Human Resources for over 6 years. In these roles, Dee’s responsibilities included working with leaders developing strategy, employee relations, performance management, benefits, and training. Dee holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management from Southern University, Baton Rouge, and a master’s degree in human resources from Houston Christian University. Dee has a passion for working with people at all levels and enjoys flower and vegetable gardening.

Chief Executive Officer

David Briggs has 34 years of semiconductor industry experience ranging from design to global business management. Mr. Briggs spent 20 years at Texas Instruments where he held various technical and business roles starting as an analog designer and finishing his career at Texas Instrument as the General Manager of the Analog Wireless Infrastructure Business Unit, driving 300% revenue growth over a 5-year period. Upon his departure from Texas Instruments, Mr. Briggs lead several startups until joining Active-Semi, Inc. as the General Manager and VP of Sales and Marketing. His leadership at Active-Semi, Inc. resulted in 300% revenue growth over a 5-year period and was instrumental in driving the company’s successful acquisition by Qorvo. David received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University and a master’s degree in business administration from The University of Texas, Austin. David has 12 patents issued in the areas of semiconductor devices, ESD structures, and circuits.

Chairman of the Board

Lawrence Blackledge has more than 30 years of semiconductor industry experience including most recently as CEO of Active-Semi International, a programmable analog power and motor drive IC semiconductor company purchased by Qorvo in May 2019. Prior to that he spent 22 years at Texas Instruments (TI) most recently as General Manager and Vice President of a $400M mixed-signal IC business. Lawrence has spent over a decade in Asia as CEO of Active-Semi International as well as managing TI’s businesses. He has guided numerous successful merger and acquisition events. Since 2007, Lawrence is also a Business Management Advisor to numerous US & Asian technology companies including The Longreach Group, a private equity firm in Asia. Lawrence holds an MBA in Marketing & Management from Amber University (Abilene Christian), and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering from Southern Illinois University. He has also studied Japanese language at the Japan Language Institute in Tokyo.

Board Member

Marco Villa has 25+ years of exceptional performance as system engineer, manager, director and executive. He established SpaceX’s mission operations team and enabled Dragon’s missions to the International Space Station. While at Tyvak and Terran Orbital, Marco covered multiple executive roles fostering the company’s growth in the US and European markets. Marco has firsthand knowledge of the transition of space activities to the private sector, and is a skilled developer of medium and long-term vision for aerospace organizations, with direct involvement toward tactical objectives and strategy definitions. An investor himself, he is known for his entrepreneurial attitude and understanding on how to generate value through appropriate evolution of an organization’s leadership, services and partnerships through its life cycle.

Rachel Lovejoy has almost 30 years of experience working with technology companies, leading the resolution of complex issues in intellectual property, technology transactions, global supply chain, security and confidentiality, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. Rachel is currently Senior Counsel and Chief IP Counsel at Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX), where among other things, she established and manages a global IP portfolio to protect all aspects of SpaceX’s business, advises on legal and business aspects of SpaceX’s chip development and supply chain, and negotiates complex technology transactions, including for space launch services, astronaut medical research, and satellite conjunction screening. Prior to joining SpaceX in early 2014, she worked for IBM for 11 years in various roles in San Francisco, New York, Dubai and Sao Paulo. Earlier in her career, she worked in Silicon Valley with high-tech startups, both in private practice and in-house, and served as an officer in the US Army Reserve.

Rachel received a bachelor’s degree with a major in Government and a minor in Science, Technology and Values from the University of Notre Dame, and a law degree from Harvard Law School.