Newport Beach chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. on Wednesday promoted two of its own as co-presidents under Chief Executive Scott Mercer.
Christian Scherp and Sailesh Chittipeddi are set to be co-presidents after the closing of a deal that was announced earlier this year.
Conexant said in April it’s selling its DSL and broadband chip product line to Fremont-based Ikanos Communications Inc. for $54 million. The deal hasn’t yet closed.
Scherp served as Conexant president and Chittipeddi was executive vice president of global operations and chief technical officer.
Both will continue to report to Mercer, who’s also chairman.
In their new roles, Scherp is set to head sales, marketing and program management.
Chittipeddi is set to manage engineering, operations, quality assurance, information technology and other support activities.
Scherp, 44, joined Conexant in 2005 as senior vice president of worldwide sales and was promoted to president last year.
Chittipeddi, 46, joined Conexant in 2006 as senior vice president of global operations and was promoted to executive vice president of operations and chief technical officer last year.
Conexant has been undergoing some major changes under Mercer, who joined the company last year after a big executive shakeup.
He’s jettisoned underperforming product lines, shed units that weren’t profitable or growing, extended its line of credit and made small acquisitions to help get into markets that are set to see growth.
Shares of Conexant were up about 5% in early afternoon New York trading Wednesday as part of a larger technology rally spurred by good results from chipmaker Intel Corp.
