Leadership Team

Jeff Benck

President and Chief Executive Officer

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Jeff Benck serves as Benchmark’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Director. In this role, Jeff is responsible for the company’s international strategy and corporate operations.

Prior to joining Benchmark, Jeff served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Lantronix a global provider of secure data access and management solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) and information technology (IT) assets. Prior to Lantronix, Jeff served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Emulex Corporation, a global supplier of advanced networking, monitoring and management solutions from July 2013 until Emulex was acquired by Avago Technologies in May 2015. He joined Emulex in May 2008 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and was subsequently appointed to President and Chief Operating Officer in August 2010. Prior to joining Emulex, Jeff was President and Chief Operating Officer of QLogic Corporation, a supplier of storage networking solutions. Earlier, he spent 18 years at IBM Corporation where he held a variety of executive leadership roles, including serving as Vice President of xSeries, BladeCenter and Retail Store Solutions development.

Jeff holds a Master of Science degree in management of technology from University of Miami and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. He is also a distinguished inventor in the computer systems field and holds 6 US patents.

Roop Lakkaraju

Chief Financial Officer

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Roop Lakkaraju serves as Benchmark’s Chief Financial Officer and has more than 25 years of management experience in overall financial strategy including treasury, financial planning and analysis, cost management, capital allocation, and balance sheet optimization.

Before joining Benchmark, Roop was Chief Financial Officer at privately held Maana, a software company that has pioneered an artificial intelligence-driven knowledge platform. Prior to that, he has been Chief Operating Officer or Chief Financial Officer for private and public high-technology companies. Roop spent more than five years at Solectron Corporation including being their interim Chief Financial Officer. Roop was an audit and business advisory manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Roop holds a BS in Business Administration and Accounting from San Jose State University and is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Michael Buseman

Executive Vice President of Global Operations

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Mike Buseman serves as Benchmark’s Executive Vice President of Global Operations with responsibility for all worldwide manufacturing operations. Mike is an accomplished executive with broad experience in operations, quality and customer relationship management. He has an extensive background in EMS and related industries.

Mike served as Chief Global Logistics and Operations Officer of Avnet, Inc., a global electronics components company, and was Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing Operations at Plexus Corp., having served as their Vice President of Global Technology, Quality and Facilities previously.  Additionally, Mike served as Vice President and General Manager of Operations of Celestica, Inc., as well as their Director of Operations, Engineering, and Technology.   Mike began his career in 1983 with Unisys, Inc., holding positions of increasing responsibility, including Principal Process Engineer and Director of Advanced Design Manufacturing Services.

Mike holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota State University and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota.

Stephen Beaver

Vice President and General Counsel

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Steve leads Benchmark’s global legal, compliance, ethics, and intellectual property matters.  He also serves as Benchmark’s corporate secretary. Steve has over 20 years’ experience in managing legal matters including litigation, contracts, labor and employment matters, trade secret and intellectual property matters, corporate controls, governance, and business processes.   

Steve joins Benchmark from Aspect Software in Phoenix, Arizona where he held the position of Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Prior to Aspect Software, he was with TPI Composites, Inc., a global provider of structural composites products, where he held the General Counsel position. He also served as Vice President and General Counsel of Swift Transportation Company, the nation’s largest truckload carrier.

Steve holds a Juris Doctorate from Marquette University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Arizona.

Scott Hicar

Vice President, Chief Information Officer

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Scott Hicar is Vice President of Business Process and CIO for Benchmark Electronics.  In this role, he has global responsibility for ensuring consistent processes, systems and infrastructure to efficiently support the execution of our business and our customers globally.

Scott has more than 25 years of technology leadership experience in transformational roles, and previously held management positions in the Supply Chain/ERP practice at Price Waterhouse, as well as serving as an internal consultant to chemical, pharmaceutical, and agriculture businesses within ICI Americas.

Scott received his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in business administration, with a concentration in management information systems, from Ohio University.

Jan Janick

VP Global Engineering and Chief Technology Officer

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Jan’s extensive, customer-focused career covers more than 30 years of leading high-performance multicultural technology development teams at industry-leading computing systems companies. His ability to make decisions quickly and inspire teams to move at the speed of technology make him a valued contributor to the Benchmark executive team, where he leads technology development insights and innovations. In this role, he heads a team of highly skilled engineers responsible for ensuring Benchmark’s components keep our customers’ products at the forefront of their industries.

Prior to joining the Benchmark team in 2015, Jan served as an executive leader at both IBM and Lenovo, where he led the development and delivery of a number of key products, including IBM’s x86-based servers and PureFlex systems. During his tenure at IBM, he established the IBM Taiwan Systems and Technology Lab, growing the group to 300 engineers while leading 650 engineers across four U.S. locations as well as others in Taiwan and China. He also led the IT team for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, and led the development, production and program management of IBM’s significant acquisition of Texas Memory Systems.

Jan earned both his Bachelor and Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Lisa Weeks

Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations

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Lisa Weeks is Benchmark's Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations at Benchmark Electronics, Inc. As a member of the senior leadership team, Lisa identifies and closes strategic acquisition targets, coordinates investor relations activities, and champions the company’s Voice-of-the-Customer initiatives. 

Lisa joined Benchmark in August 1999 and during her tenure has held numerous leadership positions in account management, operations and business development.  Her diverse background and training — from practiced engineer to savvy business practitioner — make Lisa a valuable asset to the Benchmark leadership team. Prior to joining Benchmark, Lisa was an astrodynamics engineer at Teledyne Brown and a program manager at AVEX Electronics. 

Lisa holds both a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University and a Master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University.

John W. Russell

Vice President, Material Systems

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John Russell currently holds the position of Vice President of Material Systems for Benchmark Electronics where he is responsible for all defense and commercial related supply chain architecture, procurement activities, and contract management across the network of Benchmark global operations.

Prior to his current role, John served as Vice President of Manufacturing and led global operations in North America, South America, and Europe where his responsibilities included profit and loss ownership of new program introductions, engineering projects, master planning and delivery, and order fulfillment.  Under his leadership, the organizations were the recipient of a number of supplier performance awards included Supplier of the Year. 

John joined Benchmark in 1999 and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in business management from Athens University. Prior experience includes service in the United States Army and leadership roles in program management and green field plant operations at AVEX Electronics and SCI.