Cree Names Thomas Wessel as Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing

DURHAM, N.C. -- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the appointment of Thomas Wessel as senior vice president of global sales and marketing, effective Feb. 19, 2018. In this role, Wessel will report to Gregg Lowe and oversee sales and marketing for the Wolfspeed™ power and radio frequency (RF) and Cree LED components businesses.

Wessel brings more than 20 years of global sales and marketing leadership experience within the semiconductor industry, serving the automotive, industrial, electronics and communications markets. He joins Cree from NanoSemi, Inc., a venture-funded spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he served as vice president of sales and marketing. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Analog Devices, Inc., a multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion and signal processing technology. In his role, he led the organization to eight consecutive quarters of growth. His career also spans sales and marketing management roles at Texas Instruments and Atlantik Elektronik.

“Thomas has a history of success in sales, marketing and business leadership within the markets Cree serves,” said Gregg Lowe, CEO of Cree. “Cree’s Wolfspeed power and RF and LED component technologies are critical to the success of today’s most in-demand and evolving markets, such as the automotive industry’s transition to electric vehicles. We are confident Thomas will help us unlock Cree’s potential.”

Wessel holds an engineering degree in physics from the University of Applied Sciences Lübeck and completed the advanced management program at IESE Business School. He is a Stevie Awards finalist for “Best Turnaround Executive,” recognized by the industry’s only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.

About Cree, Inc.

Cree is an innovator of lighting-class LEDs, lighting products and Wolfspeed™ power and radio frequency (RF) semiconductors. Cree’s product families include LED lighting systems and lamps, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, SiC materials, power-switching devices and RF devices. The Company’s products are targeted for applications such as indoor and outdoor lighting, video displays, transportation, electronic signs and signals, power supplies, inverters and wireless systems.

For additional product and Company information, please refer to www.cree.com.

Cree^® is a registered trademark of Cree, Inc.

# # #