{"id":4567,"date":"2012-02-03T17:45:42","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T00:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=4567"},"modified":"2013-05-13T16:27:48","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T22:27:48","slug":"former-micron-ceo-appleton-leaves-his-mark-on-idaho-tech-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/02\/03\/former-micron-ceo-appleton-leaves-his-mark-on-idaho-tech-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Micron CEO Appleton Leaves His Mark On Idaho, Tech World"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The Idaho Statesman<\/p>

Steve Appleton became Micron's CEO in 1994. He died at age 51 on Feb. 3, 2012<\/p><\/div>\n

Micron Technology CEO Steve Appleton died in a plane crash this morning<\/a>.\u00a0 His death has been met with shock and sorrow in Boise, where Appleton was known for his influence as a business leader and philanthropist.\u00a0 Micron Technology remains one the state\u2019s largest employers<\/a>, despite recent cutbacks.<\/p>\n

Retired Boise State University Professor Dick Payne, one of Steve Appleton\u2019s early mentors, today remembered when he first met Appleton.\u00a0 It was on the tennis courts at the university.\u00a0 Appleton had character, Payne says.<\/p>\n

“One of the things that stood out is \u2013 he never gave up,” says Payne.\u00a0 “He could be down a set and just pull it out.\u00a0 I admire that a great deal \u2013 his tenacity, honesty.\u00a0 He made fair calls.”<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>Former Micron CEO Appleton Leaves His Mark On Idaho, Tech World<\/a><\/p>\n

Payne says Appleton was also a promising student.\u00a0\u00a0 “I think, ‘Here\u2019s a guy that is going to do well.’\u00a0 I had no dream that he could do so<\/em> well,” Payne recalls.\u00a0 “I felt like \u2013 here\u2019s a sharp guy, a good guy.\u00a0 And they win sometimes in this world!” <\/p>\n

<\/em>Appleton started at Micron Technology in 1983<\/a>, not long after he graduated from Boise State.\u00a0 He began on the factory floor at the manufacturing facility, and worked his way up.\u00a0 In 1994, he was named CEO.\u00a0 Today, Governor Butch Otter said Idaho has lost a true champion.<\/p>\n

Boise Mayor David Bieter said Appleton will be remembered as a man\u00a0who transformed the state’s economy.\u00a0 Bieter also noted Appleton\u2019s philanthropy.\u00a0 \u201cThis to all of us, feels like a loss of someone in our family.\u00a0 That\u2019s really all I can compare it to,\u201d Bieter said.<\/p>\n

In the business world, regard for Appleton runs just as high.\u00a0 Last year, Appleton received the Robert N. Noyce award, the memory chip industry\u2019s highest honor.\u00a0 Betsy Van Hees is an analyst with Wedbush Securities, a financial services and investment firm.<\/p>\n

“The memory industry has been a very challenging industry over the years with many peaks and many valleys,” she says.\u00a0 “Steve Appleton has led Micron, this very big ship, through a very turbulent time to still be standing in a very tough market,” Van Hees says.<\/p>\n

Since 2005, Micron Technology has laid off<\/a> about half of its Idaho workers. \u00a0It still employs more than 5,000 people in the state and 20,000 worldwide.\u00a0 Van Hees calls Appleton\u2019s death a tragic loss for the memory chip industry, but she predicts Appleton\u2019s vision will continue to serve the company.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s got a very deep and solid bench of employees and executive leaders, so while there is concern with him not being there, that is obviously a huge loss, the company will continue to thrive and do well,” says Van Hees.<\/p>\n

<\/em>Micron president and chief operating officer Mark Durcan last week announced he would step down at the end of August.\u00a0 In a statement this afternoon<\/a>, however, the company said Durcan will take on the responsibilities of CEO until its board of directors appoints a successor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Micron Technology CEO Steve Appleton died in a plane crash this morning.\u00a0 His death has been met with shock and sorrow in Boise, where Appleton was known for his influence as a business leader and philanthropist.\u00a0 Micron Technology remains one the state\u2019s largest employers, despite recent cutbacks. Retired Boise State University Professor Dick Payne, one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":4570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[135],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}