Conference Chair
Masud Mansuripur
University of Arizona

Dr. Jordi Ribas
Director Technical Strategy Windows Digital Media Division
Microsoft

Charlie Mitsuhashi
Sony

Bert Hesselink, Ph.D
Stanford University

Yawara Kaneko, Ph.D.
President & CEO
TechnoConsulting, Inc.

Jim Taylor
Senior VP & General Manager
Advanced Technology Group
Sonic Solutions

Mark Knox
HD DVD Promotion Group

Tom Coughlin
President
Coughlin Associates

Maciek Brzeski
VP Marketing
Toshiba Storage Device Division

Gordon Hughes
Center for Magnetic Recording Research
University of California, San Diego

Roland Lacher (born in 1942), majored in mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Munich. As a graduate engineer,(Dipl.Ing.), he began his career in manufacturing followed by many years as a general manager at major plastic injection molding companies.

In 1976 he was placed in charge of R&D and design in construction machines. He joined Leybold AG, Hanau in 1984. In 1988/89 he served as President and CEO in one of Leybold’s U.S. subsidiaries in Connecticut. He returned to Hanau in 1989 as director of Vacuum Thin Film Coating Systems Division with responsibility for worldwide Sales and Marketing, Research and Development, as well as Production.

Along with Managing Board member Reiner Seiler and two additional investors, he purchased the CD metallizer business from Leybold in 1995 and became a cofounder of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES GmbH. Following conversion of SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES into a public company in August 1997, Roland Lacher was appointed as CEO. In this function he attended to SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES' Initial Public Offering at the Neuer Markt of the German Stock Exchange Frankfurt on November 25, 1997.

Roland Lacher retired  from his active position as CEO following the Annual General Meeting on June 23, 2006. At the same time, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG.

He has been serving on the MEDIA-TECH Association Board since 2001.

For more information go to www.media-tech.net

Eiji Ohno
Manager
Media Process Development Team
Panasonic/Matsushita Electric

Andy Parsons
Senior Vice President
Pioneer

Lisa Dhar
Founder & VP Media Development
InPhase Technology

Dr. Brian Lawrence
Manager
Integrated Polymer Systems
GE Global Research

Yuzuru Takashima
Stanford University

Wolfgang Schlichting
Research Director Removable Storage
IDC

Dominick DallaVerde
Senior Director Preproduction
Cinram International, Inc.

Bob Freedman
CTO Optical Media
Crest National

Roland Lacher
MEDIA-TECH Association