Hours after Micron Technology announced its CEO Steve Appleton had been killed in a single-engine plane crash, the company sent this press release naming Chief Operating Officer Mark Durcan as Appleton’s successor.
Micron Technology
Mark Durcan, Micron Chief Operating Officer
“Steve was a true friend who will be dearly missed by all of us,” said Mark Durcan, Micron President and Chief Operating Officer. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and our team members as we all grieve this tragic loss.”
Pursuant to the Company’s bylaws, Mr. Durcan, in his role as president of the company will assume the responsibilities of CEO until a successor is appointed by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors will convene a meeting over the weekend.
Boise-based Micron Technology CEO Steve Appleton died this morning in a single-engine plane crash at the Boise airport. Appleton was 51.
Steve Appleton joined Micron Technology in 1983. He held a series of positions including production manager, director of manufacturing and vice president of manufacturing. According to his company bio, Appleton was appointed president and chief operating officer of Micron in 1991. In 1994 Appleton became CEO.
Appleton has served on various boards including the board of directors for the Semiconductor Industry Association and National Semiconductor, Inc. He was also a member of the World Semiconductor Council and served on the Idaho Business Council. He received a bachelor of business administration degree from Boise State University in 1982 and an honorary doctorate from Boise State University in 2007. Continue Reading →
The wreckage of a Lancair experimental aircraft that crashed at the Boise Airport Friday morning.
The Associated Press confirms Micron’s chief executive officer Steve Appleton has died in a small plane crash in Boise. He was 51.
Micron spokesman Dan Francisco confirmed Appleton’s death Friday. Trading in Micron stocks has been halted. Appleton, an avid pilot, was the only one in the experimental fixed-wing plane when it crashed at the Boise airport Friday morning.
Micron Technology Inc. is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND and NOR flash memory.
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Appleton, Micron Chairman and CEO, passed away this morning in a small plane accident in Boise. He was 51.
Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time.
Steve’s passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large.
The company expects to provide additional information later today.
The company was founded in October 1978 in Boise, Idaho. Micron is one of Idaho’s largest employers with more than 5,000 employees. The company has gone through a series of layoffs since 2005, when it had nearly 10,000 employees in Idaho.
Like the national unemployment rate, which now stands at 8.3 percent, Idaho’s jobless rate has ticked down in recent months. In December, the state’s rate stood at 8.4 percent. Put in other terms, Idaho’s economy has added 8,000 jobs since September of last year. What’s harder to know is what kinds of jobs people are finding, and what kinds of compromises — lower wages, odd hours? — they’re having to make. For an anecdotal response to those questions, StateImpact sat down with Larry Willis, a workforce consultant in the Idaho Department of Labor’s Meridian office.
Q: This office assists people in lots of ways. They can file for unemployment insurance benefits, or use computers here to search for jobs or work on resumes. How many people pass through most days?
A: That’s a tough question, but particularly on Mondays — that’s generally our busy day — you’re probably going to see couple of hundred people come through here. There’s probably, at any given time, 20 or 30 people in our lobby, and it just rotates throughout the day.
Q: You coordinate a professional networking group. What have you observed about individuals’ experiences as they try to get jobs at this particular moment? Continue Reading →
McDonald's manager Christine Ruiz interviews job applicant Antonio Rodriguez during a one-day hiring event at a McDonald's restaurant on April 19, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
New data released this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Idaho’s teen unemployment rate was among the highest in the country last year. Preliminary 2011 data on employment status by state and demographic group breaks down the jobless rate between sexes, age groups and race.
Idaho’s teen (16-19 years old) unemployment rate in 2011 was 29.9 percent. Three of Idaho’s neighboring states are also ranked among the ten states with the highest teen jobless rate, Nevada, Washington and Oregon. Continue Reading →
Sen. Steve Vick is a Republican from Dalton Gardens, ID.
The Associated Pressreports conservative Idaho lawmakers are pushing a constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds vote for fee or tax hikes passed by the Legislature.
Sen. Steve Vick (R-Dalton Gardens) is a first term Idaho legislator. He previously served in the Montana Legislature for seven years. Vick wants Idaho to join about 16 other states that have adopted this supermajority requirement.
The House State Affairs committee passed the measure 15-3 along party lines, with all Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed.
Vick toldIdahoReporter.com he’s seen the idea in other states and thought it’d be a good fit for Idaho. “It just seemed like a good idea,” Vick said. “The primary motive is to control the growth of government.” Continue Reading →
Idaho budget writers will spend Friday morning listening to constituents. The Idaho Statesmanreports it’s just the second public hearing of its kind in 92 years.
Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio
Sen. Dean Cameron is co-chairman of JFAC.
In 2011, Joint Finance Appropriations Committee Co-Chairs Rep. Maxine Bell (R-Jerome) and Sen. Dean Cameron (R-Rupert) decided to open Idaho’s budgeting process to the public. Cameron says the idea was modeled after similar listening sessions in Utah. “We’ve always wanted to involve public participation in the legislating process,” says Cameron. “But the way the process is set up, it doesn’t adequately allow the public to come testify on the budget bill because it’s never drafted until the end [of the session].”
During the 2011 public budget hearing, more than 1,000 Idahoans filled the Capitol to testify. That was the year lawmakers ended up cutting millions of dollars from the Health and Welfare Department and K-12 public education budgets. Sen. Cameron says that hearing did influence the way lawmakers ended up cutting. “The Health and Welfare bill that came forward initially cut a lot more than what ended up happened at the end, that was due in part to the public testimony,” Cameron says. Continue Reading →
Allen Brown stopped in Boise on his way from Lewiston to Pocatello for a job interview.
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates there are at least 65,000 people in the state without work. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for a job. This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, that follows several Idahoans in their search for work.
We introduced you to Allen Brown a few days before Christmas. He’s a 44-year-old single father who was one of 250 people laid off from the Clearwater Paper sawmill in Lewiston. We recently caught up with Brown as he passed through Boise on his way to a job interview in Pocatello.
When Allen Brown lost his job at the sawmill he thought finding a new one wouldn’t be that tough. He has a background in electronics and is a good 20 years away from retirement. But when he started applying for jobs and meeting with potential employers he found a lot of low-paying temporary or part time work. Continue Reading →
The big employers in Idaho just keep getting bigger.
Most of the top companies and government agencies five years ago have managed to either retain or expand their workforce, according to a new StateImpact analysis of data provided by the Idaho Department of Labor.
St. Luke’s Health Systems saw the largest growth, with its workforce of between 4,000 and 5,000 employees in 2005 increasing by about 4,000 by the end of fiscal year 2011. Continue Reading →
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