SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aptina’s Board of Directors announced today the appointment of David Orton to Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Aptina as of August 5, 2009. David Orton succeeds Nicholas Brathwaite who has been the CEO since April 2008 and who will assume the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors for Aptina. Aptina is now independent and privately held following the sale by Micron Technology, Inc. of a majority interest to Riverwood Capital and TPG Capital on July 10, 2009. Micron has retained a 35% minority interest in Aptina.

“Hiring a person of David’s caliber with his experience leading a multi-billion dollar semiconductor company is a reflection of the expectation the investors and board have for realizing Aptina’s huge potential,” says Nic Brathwaite, Chairman of the Board, Aptina.

“Joining Aptina is a tremendous business opportunity on many levels. This is a world-class organization with enormous potential—leading technology, quality products and a clear focus on serving its customers,” says David Orton regarding his decision to join Aptina. “I look forward to working with the Aptina team as we strive to deliver distinguished products to our customers and realize the full potential of this great company,” he adds.

Orton, 53, most recently served as CEO at venture-backed start up, DSM Solutions. Prior to that, Orton was Executive Vice President of Visual and Media Businesses for AMD following the company’s acquisition of ATI Technologies, a global fabless semiconductor company. Prior to this acquisition, Orton served as the president and chief executive officer of ATI from 2000 to 2006. Under Orton’s leadership, ATI went from a single product line to four major product lines, growing the company’s revenue from $1B in 2000 to $2.4B in 2005. Prior to joining ATI, Orton was President and Chief Executive Officer at the high-performance 3-D graphics company, ArtX, Inc., which was acquired by ATI in 2000.

Prior to joining ArtX, Orton served in a number of senior management roles at SGI, including Senior Vice President & General Manager of Visual Systems Group and prior to that as Vice President and General Manager of the Advanced Graphics Division. His experience also includes graphics and semiconductor work for General Electric and Bell Laboratories. Orton holds several patents in graphics and computer architecture.

Orton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and economics at Wake Forest University, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Duke University.

©2009 Aptina Imaging Corporation. All rights reserved. Information is subject to change without notice.

About Aptina

Launched by Micron Technology in 2008, Aptina is a global provider of CMOS image sensor solutions with a growing portfolio of products that can be found in all of the leading mobile phone and notebook computer brands. Aptina also offers a wide range of products for digital and video cameras, surveillance, medical, automotive and industrial applications, video conferencing, barcode scanners, toys and gaming. Aptina continually drives innovation in the market as seen with the introduction of the first 10MP CMOS image sensor for point-and-shoot cameras (MT9J001), and the industry’s first 5MP SOC with ¼” format (MT9P111). For additional information on Aptina, visit www.aptina.com.

Aptina and the Aptina logo are trademarks of Aptina Imaging Corporation.