Management Team

American Superconductor's management team brings together a group of seasoned professionals with extensive management, manufacturing, financial, engineering and marketing experience.

Of the company's 640 employees, 23 hold Ph.D.s in materials science, physics, metallurgy or engineering. Senior management has well over 100 years of industry-related and marketing experience:

Gregory Yurek, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer
Daniel McGahn, President and Chief Operating Officer
John R. Collett, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Corporate Development
Susan Dicecco, Vice President, Corporate Administration
David Henry, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Timothy Poor, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development
Angelo Santamaria, Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing
Charles Stankiewicz, Executive Vice President and General Manager, AMSC Power Systems and Americas/Europe

Gregory Yurek, Ph.D.

Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Yurek founded AMSC in April 1987 with three fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professors. In 1989, he became president and chief executive officer of AMSC and was named chairman of the board in 1991.

From 1976 to 1988, Dr. Yurek was a professor of MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and was co-founder and co-director of MIT’s H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory. At MIT, he focused his research and teaching on the thermodynamics and rapid solidification processing of metals and ceramics and the development of corrosion-resistant materials, work that led to the invention of methods by Dr. Yurek and one of his co-founders for manufacturing HTS wire. These inventions became the basis for the founding AMSC.

Prior to joining the faculty at MIT, Dr. Yurek was a research scientist in the Metals and Ceramics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory where his research on oxidation of nuclear reactor core materials under accident conditions established the foundation for the government code on operating power levels in pressurized water nuclear reactors.

Dr. Yurek has won numerous awards including being named a Fellow of Britain’s Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and receiving IEE’s 2003 Achievement Medal for his work on the manufacturing of HTS materials. He was also the first non-Japanese recipient of the Award of Merit conferred by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency for his leadership in developing HTS wires. From 1973 to 1974 he served as a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld in Germany.

He has authored more than 60 scientific and technical publications and has nine U.S. patents issued in his name and is a frequent industry speaker on superconductor applications and commercialization.

Dr. Yurek is a member of the Board of Directors of Nanosys, Inc. and is a past member of the Board of Directors of Clipper Windpower, PLC. He has also been a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State University, where he is an Alumni Fellow. He is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Council on Superconductivity for American Competitiveness and was a member of the Industrial Overview Committee for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory Superconductivity Pilot Centers.

A Pennsylvania native, Dr. Yurek holds a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from Ohio State University and B.S. and M.S. degrees in metallurgy from Pennsylvania State University.

Dan McGahn

President and Chief Operating Officer

Daniel McGahn was promoted to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer in December 2009. In this role, McGahn is responsible for AMSC’s day-to-day global operations.

Mr. McGahn joined AMSC in December 2006 as Vice President, Strategic Planning and Corporate Development. His primary initial objective was to set up and operate AMSC China. McGahn hired and developed the core AMSC China team, including AMSC China’s general manager, drove a strategic site selection process based on customer and supply chain requirements, and helped manage and develop AMSC’s initial customer and vendor relationships in China. Today, AMSC China serves as a cornerstone of AMSC’s success with over 175 employees with manufacturing operations in Suzhou, field service operations and sales in Beijing and a sales office in Shanghai.

In 2008, McGahn was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of AMSC Superconductors. In this role, he developed strong strategic business alliances in the area of superconductor applications to create near- and long-term demand for the company’s 344 superconductors. McGahn led efforts to significantly enhance AMSC’s wire performance and production processes, and strengthened the AMSC Superconductors team to ensure the company is prepared for a rapid scale-up in production.

From 2003 to 2006, Mr. McGahn served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Konarka Technologies, a venture-backed developer of polymer photovoltaic technology for renewable power. While at Konarka, he helped significantly boost the company's profile with key external audiences and secure nearly $40 million in financing. He also was responsible for business development efforts in Asia, Europe and North America.

Prior to 2003, Mr. McGahn was General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of Hyperion Catalysis, a world leader in carbon nanotube production and application development, where he managed research and development, product development, manufacturing, sales and operations. He also held managerial positions at IGEN International and Princeton Consultants. A New Jersey native, Mr. McGahn holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John R. Collett

Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Corporate Development

Mr. Collett joined American Superconductor in October 2009. He is responsible for leading the development and implementation of corporate strategies aimed at accelerating the company’s growth.

Prior to joining American Superconductor, Mr. Collett had a successful career on Wall Street that began in 1987. Most recently, he was a senior member of Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking Group, holding such positions as COO of Mergers and Acquisitions, Managing Director and Co-Head of Large Cap Coverage and senior partner of the Global Diversified Industrials Group. Previously, he held positions in the energy sector and mergers and acquisitions for J.P Morgan Securities and Goldman Sachs. 

A Texas native, Mr. Collett holds an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Vanderbilt University. 

Susan DiCecco

Vice President, Corporate Administration

Susan DiCecco was named to the position of vice president, corporate administration in August of 2009. She is responsible for worldwide human resources, information technologies and environmental health and safety. Mrs. DiCecco joined AMSC in 2000 and was promoted several times until she was most recently named vice president of human resources in 2006.

Prior to joining American Superconductor, Mrs. DiCecco was employed in a human resources role by W.A.Wilde Company. Prior to that, she held a number of human resources and operational positions at Kidde Fenwal Company and General Motors among others.

A Massachusetts native, Mrs. DiCecco holds an MBA degree and a B.A. degree, with human resources focus, from Framingham State College.

David Henry

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Mr. Henry joined AMSC in 2007 as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.  He oversees the company's finance, accounting, internal audit, information technologies and investor relations functions.

Mr. Henry brings nearly 25 years of finance, accounting and business planning experience, including more than a dozen years of management experience at public companies. He previously served as chief financial officer of AMIS Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMIS), the parent company of AMI Semiconductor, which had nearly 3,000 employees and more than $600 million in revenues prior to his departure. Among other accomplishments at AMIS, Henry helped increase the company's profits, supported growth through the completion and integration of four acquisitions, managed finance and accounting for global operations, and completed a $200 million public stock offering. For the previous seven years, he held senior finance roles at Fairchild Semiconductor International (NYSE: FCS), a manufacturer of high-performance power semiconductor products. Mr. Henry also previously served as a finance director at National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM).

He earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Santa Clara University. 

Tim Poor

Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Business Development

Mr. Poor joined AMSC in September 2001 as Director of Sales and Business Development for Power Electronic Systems.  In March of 2006 he was appointed to the position of Managing Director, Power Systems Sales & Business Development.  In May of 2007 he was appointed to the position of Vice President and Deputy General Manager, Power Systems, and in March 2008 he was appointed Vice President, Global Sales & Business development for AMSC.  In this role, Mr. Poor is responsible for AMSC's global sales, business development and marketing.

Prior to joining AMSC, Mr. Poor worked at General Electric (GE) for seven years in various sales, Six Sigma, and sales management positions for the Commercial and Industrial division of GE responsible for electric power distribution and utility transmission and distribution equipment. Prior to GE, Mr. Poor was an engineering consultant at Arthur Andersen & Company.

Mr. Poor is a native of Indiana and holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Technology from Purdue University.

Angelo Santamaria

Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing

Mr. Santamaria joined American Superconductor in April 2004. He is responsible for all AMSC manufacturing operations worldwide. Utilizing his many years of managing multi-site manufacturing operations with diverse products, he is driving the continuous development, enhancement and scale up of all AMSC manufacturing facilities including the people, processes and equipment.

Prior to joining American Superconductor, Mr. Santamaria served as Vice President and General Manager at Microsemi Corporation. He served in that role for seven years and led 100% revenue growth for his division through the successful introduction and commercialization of a novel, patented semiconductor packaging technology. Previously at Microsemi Corporation, he held management positions in Operations and Engineering.

A Massachusetts native, Mr. Santamaria holds an MBA degree and a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University.

Charles Stankiewicz

Executive Vice President and General Manager, AMSC Power Systems

Mr. Stankiewicz joined AMSC in July 1998 as General Manager of the company’s Power Systems business unit based in Middleton and New Berlin, Wisconsin. In March 2006, he was appointed to Senior Vice President, AMSC Power Systems.  He was promoted to Executive Vice President in June 2007.

Prior to joining AMSC, Mr. Stankiewicz held senior electric power industry positions in engineering, sales and business development. For 10 years prior to joining American Superconductor, he worked for ABB, the Swiss industrial conglomerate, most recently as vice president of power development. In this position he was responsible for all business development for ABB’s power generation business in the U.S., and was responsible for generating a backlog of $1.5 billion of committed projects. Previously, Mr. Stankiewicz was vice president, industrial steam and gas turbines, responsible for sales and execution of ABB’s U.S. turbine projects, a business in which he had held various management positions. From 1980 to 1988, Mr. Stankiewicz was with Westinghouse Electric as a regional service manager and special sales representative for the power generation business, focused on major electric utilities.

A New Jersey native, Mr. Stankiewicz holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University.

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