Ajay Shah named CEO of SMART Global Holdings

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Ajay Shah, the Indian American Executive Chairman of SMART Global Holdings, Inc. will be the next President and CEO of SMART and will continue to serve as the Chairman of the Board, according to a Street Insider report.

Iain MacKenzie will remain on the board of directors and will continue as Co-CEO until Shah’s transition is complete.

“I am honored and excited about the opportunity to lead this exceptional organization. SMART is well positioned to continue the great progress achieved over the years under Iain’s leadership and I look forward to working closely with the board and the entire SMART team,” Shah told Street Insider.

Jason White, Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, told Street Insider that “Ajay’s deep industry knowledge and institutional tenure with SMART and its customers, suppliers, and global operations make him uniquely qualified to lead the company into the future.”

Shah co-founded SMART’s predecessor, SMART Modular Technologies in 1988 and served as its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board until it was acquired by Solectron Corporation in 2000, he then served as SMART’s Chairman of the Board since April 2004.

According to Street Insider, he founded the private equity firm Shah Capital Partners in 2002, joined Silver Lake in 2007 and has been a senior operating partner of Sumeru Equity Partners since 2014; he is also the co-founder and managing partner of Silver Lake Sumeru.

He is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum, serves on the boards of National Audubon Society and The Indian School of Business in India and is a trustee of the American India Foundation.

Shah has a B.S. in engineering from the University of Baroda in India and an M.S. degree in engineering management from Stanford University, according to Street Insider.