Ken Aitchison, Ph.D.
President and CEO

Dr. Ken Aitchison has served as President and CEO of AMST since January 2008. Prior to joining AMST, Dr. Aitchison was Vice President and General Manager of Temescal (a division of Edwards Vacuum, formerly BOC Edwards), the leading supplier of electron beam deposition equipment to the compound semiconductor industry. Previously at BOC Edwards, he served consecutively as Vice President of Semiconductor Applications and Vice President of Process Enabling Technology. Prior to joining BOC Edwards, Dr. Aitchison was at Novellus Systems for 9 years, where he held a number of senior management positions including Senior Director of Systems Engineering and Director of Chemical Systems. Dr. Aitchison additionally spent 7 years in technical and managerial roles at The Aerospace Corporation as Manager, Thin Films and Advanced Processing Section and as a Member of the Technical Staff. Prior to the Aerospace Corporation, Dr. Aitchison was Director of Technology for the Material Sciences Division of Genus.
Dr. Aitchison holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Queen Mary College, University of London, and a B.A. in Chemistry from New York University. Dr. Aitchison holds one patent and has published numerous technical papers.

Gerry Blumenstock
Vice President Marketing and Business Develpoment

Gerry Blumenstock recently joined AMST as the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. Mr. Blumenstock previously served as Head of Marketing for the SWIFT division (macro and edge wafer defect inspection) of KLA-Tencor Corporation, the world's leading supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. Mr. Blumenstock also spent 10 years with Cymer, the world's leading supplier of laser light sources for leading edge semiconductor lithography, lastly as Senior Director of Strategic Marketing. Earlier in his career at Cymer, Mr. Blumenstock held several roles in product development managing the early phases of EUV laser produced plasma light source development for next generation lithography and also developing the first 193 nm excimer laser light sources contributing to the introduction of volume 90 nm lithography. Before joining Cymer, Mr. Blumenstock worked as a systems and coating engineer for the Lithography Division of Silicon Valley Group (now ASML). Mr. Blumenstock started his career as an optical coating researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developing new optical coating technologies for use in space based astronomical instruments.
Mr. Blumenstock holds both his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland College Park. Mr. Blumenstock holds 3 patents and has over 15 published papers and articles.

Michael Grimes, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Research & Development

Dr. Michael Grimes has served as the Senior Director of R&D at AMST since April 2006. Dr. Grimes has held a variety of scientific positions during his career in the chromatography, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to AMST, Dr. Grimes served as a Principal Scientist in the Analytical Sciences Division at Alza Corporation (Johnson & Johnson). Previously, Dr. Grimes worked at both Ciphergen Biosystems and Dionex Corporation where he contributed to the successful commercial release of several products, including polymeric and silica-based chromatographic stationary phases and surface-modified biochips.
Dr. Grimes received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University where he was an NIH Biotechnology Fellow. Dr. Grimes has multiple patents pending and has published 6 technical papers.

Emiel Thijssen
Senior Director of Sales and Service Operations

Emiel Thijssen joined AMST in March 2010 as the Senior Director Sales and Service Operations. Mr. Thijssen comes to the company with more than 15 years experience in the Semiconductor Industry, during which he lived and worked in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. Mr. Thijssen has strong experience in managing a broad range of disciplines including Service and Technical Support Management, Product Marketing and Account Management. Most recently, Mr. Thijssen was responsible for Service Product Development, Marketing and Sales in his role as Director of Service Product Management at Cymer, Inc., the world's leading supplier of excimer light sources for semiconductor lithography. Prior to this role, he was responsible for Sales and Service as Cymer's Account Director Northern Europe. Mr. Thijssen started with Cymer in 1999 as Product Marketing Manager introducing 193 nm excimer light sources into volume production. Before joining Cymer, Mr. Thijssen worked for Lam Research, the leading supplier of plasma-etch equipment for the semiconductor industry in a Technical Support/Technical Sales role. Mr. Thijssen holds a B.S. equivalent in Electrical Engineering from the Netherlands.