HOYA wins major award for excellence in leadership

Helmed by Geoffrey Akiki, the company achieved stellar success and performance.

Since its establishment in 1941 as a speciality manufacturer of optical glass, HOYA Corporation (HOYA) has diversified into new business areas that exploit the potential of advanced optics technologies. The company has continued to grow as a global enterprise through the expansion of its diverse business activities, which encompass information technologies, eye care, and medical and imaging devices.

One of the leaders contributing to HOYA’s success is Geoffrey Akiki, the current President of HOYA LSI, part of Hoya Corporation. Starting his career with IBM, he served in technical, management, and executive roles encompassing global responsibilities. He then spent nine years at GlobalFoundries as General Manager, including as a resident of Abu Dhabi. He is also currently an advisor for Silicon Catalyst. Previously, he was with the New England Federal Credit Union Financial Institution (NEFCU) for 13 years as a member of the Board of Directors, including 3 years as Chairman of the Board.

Geoffrey graduated from Clarkson University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and from the University of Vermont with a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).

EUV lithography is key to leading-edge semiconductors.  Previously, no one was producing EUV blanks in volume, and Geoffrey foresaw that the future market would demand this capability and that developing this new technology would be very beneficial to the company’s growth.

To persuade the stakeholders at HOYA that this big investment was worthwhile, Geoffrey put in tremendous effort to negotiate with and convince them. Believing in his foresight and due to his persistence and commitment, the stakeholders agreed to proceed.

Geoffrey and his team started to invest heavily in equipment, training, and hiring talented employees to focus on developing this new technology and being ready for the ramp-up of production in the future.

Their hard work and efforts paid off as the company ramped quickly and successfully developed the first-ever defect-free EUV photomask blank. The project has become a great success as demand kicks in and has led the company to great growth in just over two years’ time.

For these achievements, Geoffrey Akiki received the Executive of the Year - Electronic Manufacturing award in the recently concluded Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards.

The awards programme recognises the most outstanding leaders in Singapore for their hard work and dedication that brought tangible contributions to their businesses. It also honours employee engagements and COVID management initiatives that made a positive impact on its workforce or customers.

In granting the award, the judging panel took into consideration three major areas of the company.

First, Geoffrey’s excellence in leadership and foresight helped the company develop and ramp up the manufacturing of the new technology of EUV photomask blanks, with more than 200% growth in sales and more than 150% growth in shipments.

Second, Geoffrey and his team’s great contributions have made HOYA LSI the leader in this industry.

Lastly, this success has enabled HOYA LSI to earn deep trust and confidence from its customers with high-quality and advanced technology products.

The SBR Management Excellence Awards is presented by Singapore Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2023 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's employee engagements and management initiatives, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez at [email protected].