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Micallef and Spade join Audience Inc.

Audience, Inc., the leading provider of advanced voice and audio processors for the mobile and telecom marketplace, today announced the appointment of two new executives: Andy Micallef as vice president of operations, and Tom Spade as vice president of sales. Both positions report directly to president and chief executive officer Peter Santos.

Micallef joins Audience to lead operations, including manufacturing, assembly and test engineering, procurement and supply chain management, quality control, and product engineering. In his new role as head of sales, Spade will be responsible for all customer operations and account management, creating and expanding relationships and business opportunities around the world, as well as overseeing global sales offices, distribution networks, and revenues.

"As Audience continues its rapid growth and global expansion, building a world-class leadership team with the proven ability to deliver results and position the organization for the future is essential," said Peter Santos, president and chief executive officer, Audience. "Both Andy and Tom bring extensive experience, deep industry knowledge, and the management capabilities that will help us capitalize on the opportunities ahead, maintaining product and market leadership, and effectively serving the needs of our customers and partners. I am pleased to welcome them both to our management team."

Andy Micallef brings significant supplier relationships as well as supply chain expertise to his new role as vice president of operations for Audience. Most recently, he was executive vice president of worldwide manufacturing and operations at LSI Corporation. He came to this role through LSI's acquisition of Agere Systems in 2007, where he also was responsible for global operations. Prior to Agere, Micallef held several operations and finance positions at Fujitsu-ICL Systems, and also IBM. He began his career at General Dynamics, where he worked as a mechanical and fluid systems design engineer. Micallef earned a master's degree in business administration and also a master's degree in engineering from the University of Michigan, as well as a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

A seasoned sales leader with extensive experience in the PC and handheld device markets, Tom Spade joins Audience from Boston-Power, where he served as vice president of global sales, portable power. Prior to that, he was vice president of global sales for Validity, Inc., where he helped drive a 10-fold increase in revenues across consumer and enterprise markets during his tenure. Previously, he spent nine years at Synaptics, most recently as vice president of worldwide sales, supporting efforts to grow the company from $25MM in revenues, prior to its initial public offering (IPO), to over $300MM. Earlier in his career, he held senior sales positions at Alliance Semiconductor, Anthem Electronics, Arrow Electronics, and Anderson Consulting. Spade holds a bachelor's degree in economics and management from Albion College.
*Press release from PR Newswire