Daily News Briefs

Laurenz Schmidt has been appointed senior vice president of global operations at Fairchild Semiconductor International.

Todd Smathers was named senior vice president of operations at Xicor Inc., supplier of programmable mixed-signal integrated circuits.

Subwavelength reticle solutions supplier Photronics Inc. announced that James L. Mac Donald will retire as its president and member of the board effective Dec. 31. MacDonald, who previously was the chairman and CEO of Align Rite International, joined Photronics after its merger with Align Rite in June 2000. He will continue to serve the company as an advisor. Constantine S. Macricostas, chairman and CEO, will temporarily assume the position of president.