- 07 September 2006 -

Cree Picks ex-Cirrus man as new CFO

Cree, Inc., today announced that John T. Kurtzweil will join the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer as of September 29. Mr. Kurtzweil brings with him over 25 years of corporate financial management experience, and he served most recently as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Cirrus Logic, Inc., a publicly-traded supplier of analog, mixed-signal and digital processing solutions for audio and industrial product applications, based in Austin, Texas.

“We are very pleased that John will be joining Cree as our chief financial officer,” stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and chief executive officer. “John brings with him a unique combination of financial expertise and experience in both large and small technology companies, strong relationships with the investment community and knowledge of the semiconductor business. I look forward to working with him to build on Cree’s success and to help lead the company through the next stage of growth.”

Mr. Kurtzweil has served as chief financial officer of Cirrus Logic since 2004. He previously served as senior vice president and CFO of ON Semiconductor, a global supplier of power- and data-management semiconductors and standard semiconductor components, and of disk drive component manufacturer Read-Rite Corporation, which sold substantially all of its assets to Western Digital Corp. in 2003. Immediately prior to joining Cirrus Logic, Kurtzweil had served as interim CFO for Quepasa Corporation, an online company serving the growing US Hispanic community. Mr. Kurtzweil is a certified public accountant and holds a B.S. degree in accounting from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas.

www.cree.com