Xilinx CEO to Retire

Programmable logic device maker Xilinx Inc. of San Jose, Calif., today announced that Willem P. Roelandts will retire as president and CEO. A committee of the company's board of directors will begin an immediate search; Roelandts will remain CEO until a successor is named and will continue on as board chairman after retirement. Roelandts has led Xilinx since 1996. During his tenure, what the company said was an "intense period of change" within the semiconductor industry, Roelandts expanded the company's global business and initiated its diversification to markets such as consumer, automotive, industrial and defense, which now generate 45 percent of Xilinx's total revenue.