About Us

Timothy M. Archer is president and chief executive officer at Lam Research. He joined the company in 2012 following its acquisition of Novellus Systems, Inc. (“Novellus”) when he began serving as Lam’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was later promoted to president and chief operating officer, and then president and chief executive officer in December 2018.

Tim currently serves on the International Board of Directors for SEMI, the global industry association representing the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. From 2020 to 2022, he served as chairman of the board for the National Consortium for Graduate Engineering Degrees for Minorities (GEM): a nonprofit organization in the U.S. that is dedicated to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering and science at the master’s and doctoral levels.

Prior to joining Lam, Tim had an 18-year tenure at Novellus where he served as the company’s COO, and held other executive positions supporting worldwide sales, marketing, customer satisfaction, and product and business development. He began his career at Tektronix, Inc. in 1989, developing processes for high-speed bipolar integrated circuits.

Tim completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Business and earned his B.S. degree in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology.

Douglas R. Bettinger is executive vice president, and chief financial officer at Lam Research, with responsibility for overseeing the company’s finance, tax, treasury, investor relations and corporate analytics. Prior to joining Lam, Doug served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Avago Technologies Ltd. and held a variety of executive finance positions with Xilinx, Inc., 24/7 Customer, and Intel Corp.

He earned his M.B.A. in finance from the University of Michigan, and his B.S. degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Audrey Charles is senior vice president of corporate strategy and advanced packaging, and president of Lam Capital at Lam Research. In this position, she is responsible for leading the executive management team in the development of strategic priorities and key initiatives that support the company’s long-term profitable growth. She is also responsible for accelerating the company’s market-leading position in advanced packaging to deliver differentiated technology and support to customers.

Additionally, Audrey oversees Lam’s Corporate Development team and investment arm, Lam Capital, which invests in disruptive companies that advance the semiconductor ecosystem through next generation industrial automation, technology and product innovation, and new market opportunities. She brings a broad base of experience to her role, including engineering, customer technology management and investor relations. Since joining Lam in 1995, she has served in a range of leadership positions including senior vice president of Global Human Resources and vice president of corporate initiatives.

Audrey earned an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.S. in applied physics from Dublin City University.

Neil Fernandes is the senior vice president of global customer operations at Lam Research. Previously, he was global vice president of business development and sales operations and held other senior sales and customer-focused leadership positions at Lam. He joined the company in 2012 through the acquisition of Novellus Systems, where he was the vice president of sales operations. Prior to that role, he held range of management positions in product marketing and process engineering at Novellus Systems, Gasonics and Watkins-Johnson.

Neil earned his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Steve Fine is chief communications officer for Lam Research, with responsibility for the company’s global corporate communications, marketing communications, brand, and social impact programs including the Lam Foundation. ​Previously, he served as Vice President of Strategic Integrated Communications for Lam, developing programs to enhance the company’s brand. ​Prior to joining Lam, Steve served as Head of Executive and Employee Communications and Culture for Hitachi Vantara. Previously, he led communications for electric operations at Pacific Gas and Electric company. Earlier in his career, Steve oversaw business communications for the San Francisco 49ers, and partnered with leading companies in the technology and healthcare industries at several public relations agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC. ​

Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Georgetown University. ​

Ava Harter is senior vice president and chief legal officer at Lam Research with responsibility for the company’s global legal and regulatory functions. Prior to joining Lam, Ava was the executive vice president and chief legal officer at Whirlpool Corporation where she held enterprise-wide responsibility for global legal matters, as well as security and claims for the company. Previously, she served as General Counsel at Owens Corning and oversaw legal, corporate affairs and government affairs. Prior to that, Ava held substantial legal roles at General Electric and Dow Chemical. She also worked at the law firms of Jones Day and Thomspon Hine and was an adjunct professor at the Case Western Reserve University Law School.

She earned her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, an M.B.A. in sociology from the University of Nebraska and a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University.

Mary Hassett is senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Lam Research, with responsibility for aligning Lam’s valued people resources to the company’s strategic priorities and supporting employee engagement, leadership development and a strong company culture. Prior to joining Lam, Mary worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise for nearly 25 years where she served in various of HR leadership roles, most recently as senior vice president of Human Resources for the company’s Hybrid IT organization. 

Mary earned her B.B.S. degree with a focus in French and HR studies from the University of Limerick, Ireland. 

Patrick Lord is executive vice president and chief operating officer at Lam Research where he is responsible for driving efficiency, productivity and business resilience to support the profitable scaling of the company’s global operations. This includes oversight of Global Operations, Global Information Systems, Global Workplace Solutions, Global Quality and EH&S, the Customer Support Business Group (CSBG) and Global Resilience, Security, and Transformation groups. Previously, he was executive president of CSBG and Global Operations. He joined Lam in 2012 following its acquisition of Novellus Systems. At Novellus, Pat served in a variety of executive leadership positions, most recently senior vice president and general manager of the company’s Direct Metals, GapFill, Surface Integrity Group and Integrated Metals Business Units. Prior to Novellus, he worked at KLA-Tencor Corp., where he held various product management and marketing roles.  

Pat earned his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Vahid Vahedi is senior vice president, chief technology and sustainability officer at Lam Research. In this role, he is responsible for driving innovation breakthroughs that define the next generation of semiconductors and result in the expansion of the company’s portfolio of best-in-class products and solutions. He also leads the Company’s sustainability programs and execution of responsible business practices to support net zero goals. Vahid has nearly 30 years of experience in technology and business leadership. Joining Lam in 1995, he was previously the senior vice president and general manager of the company’s Etch Business Unit, where he was responsible for the launch of Sense.i^®, Lam’s most innovative etch platform to date. Prior to that, he held a range of leadership positions at the company, supporting product management and marketing for the Etch Business Unit, as well as overseeing development of Lam’s dielectric etch, conductor and 3DIC etch innovations.

Vahid earned his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sesha Varadarajan is senior vice president of the Global Products Group at Lam Research, where he is responsible for leading product design, engineering and business processes for the company’s etch and deposition solutions. Varadarajan has over 20 years of experience in business and technology leadership at Lam, most recently serving as general manager of the company’s deposition product group. Previously, he held a range of other senior leadership positions at the company.  

Sesha earned his M.S. degree in manufacturing engineering and material science from Boston University and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Mysore.