7 February, 2019
President and Chief Executive Officer
Paul Tufano was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2016. He joined Benchmark’s Board of Directors in February 2016.
Paul brings broad experience to his new role, having spent over 35 years in the technology and telecommunications industries, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer of the Alcatel-Lucent Group, a telecommunications company, from 2008-2013, where he also served as Chief Operating Officer from 2012-2013. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Solectron Corporation, an electronics manufacturing services company, where he also served as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Solectron, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Maxtor Corporation, a manufacturer of computer hard disk drives, having served previously as Chief Operating Officer and as Chief Financial Officer. Before joining Maxtor, he held management positions in finance and operations at IBM.
Paul holds a bachelor's degree in economics from St. John's University and a master's degree of business administration in finance, accounting and international business from Columbia University.
Chief Financial Officer
Roop Lakkaraju 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.
Executive Vice President of Global Operations
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.
Vice President and General Counsel
Steve leads Benchmark’s global legal, compliance, ethics, intellectual property, environmental health and safety matters. He is also serves as Benchmark’s corporate secretary. Steve has over 20 years experience in managing legal processes including contracts, 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.
Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations
Lisa Weeks is currently corporate 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 engineering 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.
Chief Technology Officer
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.
Jan’s broad business experience in multi-company and multicultural management makes him the perfect fit for leading Benchmark’s global engineering group. 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 System.
Jan earned both his Bachelor and Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Vice President, Chief Information Officer
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.
Vice President, Material Systems
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.
