Altera Adds Kirsten Spears and Sumit Sadana to Board of Directors

Accomplished semiconductor executives bring deep technology, business, financial and governance expertise to Altera’s Board

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altera Corporation, the world’s largest pure-play FPGA solutions provider, today announced two appointments to its Board of Directors: Sumit Sadana, who joins as an independent director, and Kirsten Spears, who previously joined the Board as an independent director and Chair of the Board’s Audit Committee. Together, Spears and Sadana bring significant semiconductor, technology, business, financial and governance experience to Altera’s Board as the company enters its next phase of growth.

“Kirsten and Sumit are highly respected semiconductor industry leaders who bring tremendous experience and complementary perspectives to our Board,” said Raghib Hussain, President and CEO of Altera. “Kirsten’s extensive financial and governance leadership combined with Sumit’s deep technology, business and strategic expertise, will be invaluable as we execute our strategy and position Altera for long-term growth.”

Ken Hao, Chairman of Altera’s Board of Directors and Managing Partner and Co-Chairman of Silver Lake, added, “Altera has made significant progress since its separation from Intel, and we are strengthening the Board to align with the company's ambitions. Kirsten and Sumit know how to build enduring semiconductor companies, and I am delighted to welcome them to the Board.”

Spears previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer at Broadcom, where she held leadership roles across finance, accounting and corporate governance. Earlier in her career, Spears held positions at LSI, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Raychem and Bank of America. As Chair of Altera’s Audit Committee, she will play an important role in the Board’s oversight of financial reporting, compliance, risk management and governance.

“Altera is at an exciting point in its evolution, with a long history of innovation and differentiated technology ideally suited for today’s evolving markets,” said Kirsten Spears. “I look forward to working with Raghib, Ken, Sumit and the Board as Altera continues to strengthen its business and governance foundation and prepares for its future.”

Sadana brings more than 35 years of technology and semiconductor industry experience spanning business and P&L leadership, product development, corporate strategy, M&A and operations. For over nine years, he served as executive vice president and chief business officer at Micron Technology, where he led the company’s P&L and business units and had responsibility for the company’s product roadmaps, customer partnerships as well as corporate strategy, corporate business development, global communications and marketing, and Micron Ventures. Prior to Micron, Sadana held senior leadership positions at SanDisk, Freescale Semiconductor and IBM. He has served on the Board of Directors of Silicon Labs since 2015 and as lead independent director since 2022.

“Altera has a strong technology foundation, a broad customer base and a significant opportunity ahead as programmable solutions become increasingly important to the future of computing and AI,” said Sumit Sadana. “I look forward to working with Raghib, Ken, Kirsten and the rest of the Board as Altera builds on its more than 40-year heritage of FPGA innovation and enters its next chapter of growth.”

The appointments reflect Altera’s continued focus on building the leadership and governance foundation to support its long-term strategy as an independent semiconductor company. Learn more about the Altera Board of Directors.

About Altera

Altera is the world’s largest pure-play FPGA solutions provider, with an exclusive focus on delivering FPGA innovations to the broad market. The company provides a comprehensive portfolio of programmable hardware, software, and development tools that empower designers of electronic systems to innovate, differentiate, and execute with greater speed and efficiency. With industry-leading FPGAs, SoCs, and design solutions, Altera enables customers to achieve faster time-to-market, greater flexibility, and optimized performance across a wide range of applications, spanning physical AI, industrial automation, audio/video, robotics, aerospace, defense, data centers, telecommunications, and more. For more information, visit  www.altera.com