PLX Technology Names Ralph Schmitt as President, CEO

PLX Technology Inc., manufacturer of standard I/O interconnect semiconductors based in Sunnyvale, Calif., has announced the appointment of Ralph Schmitt as president, CEO, and as a member of the company’s board of directors. Effective Nov. 3, Schmitt will succeed Mike Salameh, who served as PLX’s president and CEO since co-founding the company in 1986. Salameh will continue as a full-time employee for a short transition period and then continue to serve as a member of the board of directors. During 2008, Schmitt consulted with a variety of venture capitalists, as well as acted as chief executive officer of Legend Silicon, a privately funded Chinese terrestrial digital TV semiconductor company. From 2005 to 2007, he was chief executive officer of Sipex, an analog semiconductor company, which merged with Exar in 2007. Upon the completion of the merger, he was appointed chief executive officer of Exar, a position he held until the end of 2007. From 1999 to 2005 Schmitt was the executive vice president of sales, marketing and business development for Cypress Semiconductor. At various points of his career, Schmitt has served on the boards at Cypress subsidiaries and other privately held semiconductor and systems companies.