Management Team

Morris S. Young, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Morris S. Young is the founder and Chief Executive Office of AXT. Dr. Young co-founded AXT in 1986 and served as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board from 1989 to 2004. From 2004 to 2006, he served as Chief Technology Officer and CEO of AXT China Operations. In 2007, Dr. Young retired from AXT management, but continued to serve on the Board of Directors. In July 2009, Dr. Young was reappointed as the CEO of AXT. Prior to founding AXT, Dr. Young served as a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Prior to that, Dr. Young served as a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs. Dr. Young holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Chengkung University , Taiwan, a Master of Science degree in Metallurgy from Syracuse University and 1975 a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Metallurgy from Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Raymond A. Low
Chief Financial Officer

Raymond A. Low was appointed as our Chief Financial Officer in October 2009. Mr. Low joined AXT as corporate controller in February 2005 and was promoted to vice president, corporate controller in July 2006. From June 2004 to February 2005, Mr. Low was an independent consultant on a Sarbanes Oxley assignment. From May 2002 to June 2004, Mr. Low was corporate controller of Therasense, Inc. (now Abbott Laboratories), a publicly traded manufacturer of blood glucose monitors. From April 2000 to May 2002, Mr. Low was corporate controller of RStar Networks Inc, a publicly traded internet service provider. From April 1998 to April 2000, Mr. Low was director of accounting for AT&T. Mr. Low spent three years in public accounting with BDO Seidman in San Francisco, and three years in public accounting with Deloitte & Touche in South Africa. Mr. Low is a California certified public accountant, and a member of the California Society of CPAs. Mr. Low is a past member of the chartered institute of management accountants in the United Kingdom. Mr. Low has an M.B.A. degree from Chadwick University, Alabama, a Bachelor of Accounting Science Honors degree from the University of South Africa, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University, South Africa.

Davis Zhang
President, JV & China Operations

Davis Zhang co-founded AXT in 1986. He was appointed as our President of China Operations in October 2009. He is our president, joint venture operations, and has served as senior vice president, production from January 1994 until August 1999, as president of the substrate division from August 1999 to 2003 and as senior vice president of production since 2003. From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Zhang served as our senior production manager. Mr. Zhang studied mechanical engineering at Communication University, Beijing, China.

Robert G. Ochrym
Vice President, Business Development, Strategic Sales, & Marketing

Robert G. Ochrym was appointed as our Vice President, Business Development, Strategic Sales and Marketing in October 2009. Mr. Ochrym joined AXT as Vice President, Business Development in June 2005. Prior to AXT from 2003 to May 2005, Mr. Ochrym was national sales manager at Aixtron, Inc., where he was responsible for North American sales and marketing functions. From 1973 to 2003, Mr. Ochrym held various positions in sales and marketing, business development and product management at Uniroyal Optoelectronics, Northrop Grumman and Rhone-Poulenc, and had extensive involvement with rare earths and gallium businesses. Mr. Ochrym has a B.A. degree in Biology from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

Hani Badawi, Ph.D.
Vice President, Applications Engineering, Intellectual Property, & Metrology QC & QA

Dr. Badawi joined AXT in July 2004 and was promoted to vice president of applications engineering in March 2005. Prior to AXT, Dr. Badawi was with AmberWave Systems Corporation, NH where he served for two years as vice president of engineering. Since 1981, Dr. Badawi has held management positions at ITT, Grumman Aerospace, Hughes Aircraft, Anadigics Corp. and ATMI. He has over 25 years of experience in the field of GaAs, 6 patents and over 30 technical papers in reputable journals. Dr. Badawi earned his BEE degree in 1969 and his Ph.D. degree in 1976 from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, and, the University of Kent, UK, respectively. Dr. Badawi is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Member of the Electrochemical Society. He is also a member of the Technical Program Committee of the Compound Semiconductor MANTECH Conference, and a member of the Compound Semiconductor Materials Committee of the SEMI Standards Program.