Newport Beach-based chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. on Monday said it has hired a chief executive to replace retiring Dwight Decker.
Daniel Artusi, who now is chief executive of privately held ColdWatt Inc. of Austin, Texas, is set to start at Conexant on July 9.
Decker, who has led Conexant for nearly all of its life since spinning off from what’s now Rockwell Automation Inc. in 1999, is set to continue as non-executive chairman.
For the past two years, Artusi has run ColdWatt, a maker of electronics that convert power from a wall outlet for use in computers. The company has raised more than $30 million in venture capital funding.
Before that, Artusi spent four years at Austin-based chip designer Silicon Laboratories Inc., including a year as chief executive. He joined Silicon Laboratories Labs in 2001 from what now is Freescale Semiconductor Inc., a Motorola Inc. spinoff based in Austin.
Artusi left Silicon Laboratories amid a downturn at the company.
For most of Artusi’s career, he was with Motorola Inc.’s chip division, serving as vice president and general manager or various units.
A native of Argentina, Artusi started his career with Motorola in 1977 as a field applications engineer in Buenos Aires.
He studied electrical engineering at the Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires.
Growing up, Artusi worked with his father who sold building materials to hardware stores and lumberyards in towns north of Buenos Aires, according to the American-Statesman newspaper in Austin.
He said he learned about doing business driving with his father from town to town.
Artusi is described as a hands-on manager who immerses himself in details of business.
He’s got a big task at Conexant.
The company, which makes chips for satellite TV boxes, digital subscriber line Internet connections and other areas, is slumping amid the chip slowdown.
Decker said last fall he planned to step back. He tried to pull back once before in 2004, when Conexant acquired New Jersey’s GlobespanVirata Inc. He came back shortly after to fix a botched combination.
A prominent name in business, philanthropy and politics, Decker is likely to step up his work with local venture capitalists and the University of California, Irvine, among other activities.
