Miasolé, a leading developer and manufacture of innovative thin film copper-indium-gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells, announced the appointment of Joseph Laia as President and Chief Executive Officer. Bringing an unparalleled track record of growing businesses, outstanding leadership skills, and deep technical experience, Laia will lead Miasolé through its next stage of growth as the company prepares to deliver cost-effective solar cells on a global scale. Laia comes to Miasolé from KLATencor, where he was Group Vice President of Metrology for the multi-billion dollar semiconductor equipment company.

“We are thrilled to have Joe Laia on board, he was our top choice for this position,” said board member Aileen Lee of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “He has deep technical expertise in process technologies and manufacturing equipment, and a stellar track record, both in leading great teams and in scaling world-class businesses.”

“The Board and I have long talked about a transition to a leader who will scale Miasolé to commercial manufacturing and worldwide operations,” said David Pearce, Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Strategy Officer of Miasolé. “After having met many world class CEOs who wanted the job, I’m proud to hand over the reins to Joe Laia. He will take Miasolé to the next stage of growth and beyond, and I will be there to support him, while concentrating on our longer term technologies and strategy.”

“Miasolé is in a unique position with its CIGS technology to bring solar to grid competitiveness,” said Joe Laia. “It’s really an exceptional opportunity, and I am excited and honored to join this team.”

Laia served most recently as Group Vice President of Metrology for KLA-Tencor, the leading capital equipment company serving the inspection and metrology markets for the global semiconductor industry. Previously at KLA-Tencor he served as the Group Vice President of Process Equipment division and as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Blue29, a joint venture between KLA-Tencor and Dainippon Screen.

Prior to joining KLA, he was at Novellus Systems, Inc. for 7 years where he held a number of leadership positions including Vice President and General Manager of Physical Vapor Deposition Division, and Vice President and General Manager of the Dielectric High Density Plasma Division.

Laia additionally spent eleven years in technical and business leadership roles at Los Alamos National Laboratories, including Vice President/Program Director of the Energy/Civilian Business Sector, Group Leader of Coatings and Polymers, and Section Leader of the Chemical Vapor Deposition Section.

He holds a Ph. D and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, as well as a B.S. in Chemistry from S.U.N.Y. Stonybrook.