Akoustis™ Announces New Board Appointments

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Names Jerry Neal, Arthur Geiss and Jeff McMahon as New Directors

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of innovative single crystal Bulk ONE™ RF filters for mobile wireless, announced today the election of three new members to its Board of Directors (the “Board”): Jerry D. Neal, Arthur E. Geiss, and Jeff K. McMahon.

“Akoustis is pleased to welcome three extremely talented and highly qualified leaders to our Board,” said Jeff Shealy, Akoustis Chairman and CEO. “Jerry Neal is an accomplished entrepreneur who co-founded RFMD (now Qorvo) and established many of the customer relationships enabling the company to grow to surpass $1B in revenues. Arthur Geiss is an extraordinary executive who previously served as VP of Operations at RFMD, establishing one of the world’s largest wafer manufacturing footprints for mobile wireless RF front-ends. Jeff McMahon is a seasoned executive in financial management and business strategy with experience from The North Highland Co. and Accenture, from which he brings focus on revenue growth and risk management.”

“The addition of 4G/LTE in mobile smartphones has driven a sharp increase in demand of high performance RF acoustic wave filters to support convergence of voice and data in a single wireless device,” said Jerry Neal. “Akoustis’ single crystal resonator filter technology offers the promise of lower loss RF filters, which ultimately enables longer battery life for smartphones.”

Prior to joining the Board, Mr. Neal co-founded RFMD (now Qorvo) in 1991 and served as its Executive Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Development until 2012. Mr. Neal was instrumental in establishing the corporate branding of RFMD, negotiating strategic alliances with key customers, suppliers and technology partners. He has also served on numerous semiconductor boards and has been recognized by both industry and governmental agencies for his contributions and leadership. Prior to RFMD, he spent 10 years at Analog Devices, Inc. Jerry is currently the CEO and owner of Linbrook Heritage Estate, a 500 acre Agritourism business in Trinity, NC.

Arthur Geiss is currently the Manager of AEG Consulting, LLC, which offers guidance concerning manufacturing, operations, and process development to technology companies. Prior to establishing AEG Consulting, Dr. Geiss served as VP Wafer Fab Operations at RFMD (now Qorvo). He was responsible for the start-up and operations of Gallium Arsenide epitaxial-growth and wafer-fabrication. Prior to RFMD, Dr. Geiss held management positions with Alpha Industries, Inc. (purchased by Skyworks Solutions, Inc.) and ITT’s Gallium Arsenide Technology Center (purchased by Cobham plc). He earned a B.S. degree at Lafayette College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Brown University, all in physics.

Jeff McMahon is a Managing Director at The North Highland Company, a global management consulting firm, and is currently the Market Lead for North Highland’s largest market. He has 20 years experience in business and information technology consulting where he assists Fortune 100 companies to drive revenue, optimize processes, improve customer experience and manage risk. His areas of expertise include marketing, strategy articulation and realization, strategic execution, business process management and merger integration. Prior to joining North Highland, Mr. McMahon was a Manager in Accenture's process practice area. Mr. McMahon received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University.

About Akoustis

Akoustis™ (www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that manufactures its unique, patent-pending Bulk ONE™ technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters for the mobile-wireless industry. Akoustis’ “fabless” business model is capital efficient, leveraging existing manufacturing infrastructure in the semiconductor industry. Founded in 2014, Akoustis™ is located in the Piedmont technology corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation,

  • risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing;
  • the early stage of our Bulk ONE™ technology presently under development;
  • our need for substantial additional funds in order to continue our operations and the uncertainty of whether we will be able to obtain the funding we need;
  • our ability to retain or hire key scientific, engineering or management personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights;
  • our dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, research organizations, testing laboratories and other potential collaborators;
  • our ability to successfully market and sell our technologies;
  • the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our technologies;
  • competition in our industry; and
  • regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries.

In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this presentation speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

THESE MATERIALS DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO BUY, ANY SECURITIES OF AKOUSTIS, INC., OR OF ANY OTHER ENTITY WHATSOEVER. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY BY ANY PARTY SHOULD BE IGNORED.

Akoustis, Inc.
Dave Aichele, 1-704-997-5735, ext. 106
VP of Business Development
daichele@akoustis.com

Source: Akoustis, Inc.

Released June 4, 2015