Russell Ellwanger

Russell C. Ellwanger is the Director and Chief Executive Officer; Chairman of the Board of Tower Semiconductor USA, Inc and Jazz Technologies.  He has served as  Chief Executive Officer since May 2005. Mr. Ellwanger also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tower’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tower Semiconductor USA, Inc. and Jazz Technologies, Inc.  Ellwanger is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Russell is an American businessman, and is married to Margret, whom he met while they both were serving missions in Germany.  Margret is German.  She manages a highly successful charitable organization in Cambodia, employing a micro-savings system to launch businesses for underclass women.  She also sponsors charity projects for Israeli Arabs and Bedouin in Israel.  Together, they have four children.

On January 27, 2010, TowerJazz announced that CEO Russell Ellwanger had been awarded the High Tech CEO of the Year Award in the category of business breakthrough by the Forum of the Israeli Management Center.  This award is considered the most prestigious in the Israeli hi-tech industry.

Ellwanger executed the merger of two companies that brought about a significant strategic and business turnaround for Tower Semiconductor. The merger with Jazz Semiconductor re-positioned the company and launched a new brand, TowerJazz to become the number one specialty foundry worldwide.  The merger was effected during the major economic downturn worldwide.  This emphasizes the success of combining two entities into one stronger company, gaining increased revenues, substantial synergies and cost savings, best of breed specialty process offerings, customer diversification and enhanced geographical presence.  TowerJazz maintains two manufacturing facilities in Israel and one in the U.S. with additional capacity available in China through manufacturing partnerships.

TowerJazzy ended the first quarter 2010 with a $9 million-loss. This figure reflects 10%-increase in revenues over the previous quarter and 100%-increase over the same quarter of last year. Tower’s share hiked by 50% since the beginning of the year and is traded now at a rate similar to five years ago.  Second quarter, 2010, should be TowerJazz’ first quarter in the black, and then it can soar.

“In 2005, Tower was a huge boat with $600 million in debts and revenues of $100 million,” says Ellwanger. “In five years we reached revenues of $500 million. Not many companies in Israel can boast figures of this scale, let alone EBITDA of $160 million” (The Marker, an Israeli paper).

Tower is the largest employer in the Galilee today. They have 1,200 direct employees and another 1,000 who make a living indirectly from their plant. There are not many such factories in Israel.