Our Team
Bob Kavanaugh
President
Bob joined VEM in 1994, starting in Operations. He moved into Sales in 1998 and was promoted to Vice President in 2002. In 2011, he became President of VEM. He has over 30 years of PVD materials experience and holds a BA from the University of Southern California.
Lyonna Lam
VP of Finance
Lyonna joined VEM in 2026. She has two decades of experience in finance including scaling high-growth startups to established Fortune 100 companies. Lyonna holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a BS in Organizational Communication and Journalism from Ohio University.
Melvin Hirata
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES/MARKETING & TECHNOLOGY
Melvin joined VEM in 2012. He has over 25 years of experience in Sales, Marketing and Engineering in the Semiconductor industry . Melvin has a BSEE degree from the University of Hawaii.
Carlos Escobar
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, SANTA CLARA
Carlos joined VEM in 2008, starting in supply chain logistics before moving to materials management. He currently oversees the operation and manufacturing in Santa Clara facility, putting efficient workflows in place to maximize productivity and performance. He received certification from SJSU in Certified Purchasing Management and APICS CPIM. Carlos also enjoys coaching competitive youth baseball and softball in the community.
Lisa Michon
PURCHASING MANAGER
Lisa joined VEM in 2011. She has over 20 years in supply chain and purchasing experience.
Dr. Dan Marx
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Dan joined VEM in 2013 and now leads our R&D programs. He has 40 years of experience in thin film materials, deposition processes & equipment, and has earned 8 US patents. Dan holds a PhD in Metallurgy from the Pennsylvania State University.
Chris Rasco
GENERAL MANAGER, VEM DALLAS
Chris joined VEM in 2024. He has 20 years of experience in Operations across various industries and has a BS degree from Vincennes University.
Sarah Sallstrom
DIRECTOR OF Engineering
Sarah joined VEM in 2016. She has over 16 years of experience in materials manufacturing. Sarah holds a BS in Materials Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MS in Industrial Engineering from New Mexico State University.
Monica Ripa
DIRECTOR OF SALES AND OPERATIONS
Monica joined VEM in 2017, started in Quality and in 2019 moved into Sales Operations. She has over 18 years of experience in PVD materials and holds an Industrial and Systems Engineering bachelor’s degree from CETYS Universidad in Tijuana, Mexico.
Nadea Vasiliteva
ACCOUNTING MANAGER
Nadea first joined VEM in 2017 as an AP Accountant and rejoined the company in 2024 as Accounting Manager. Nadea holds a California CPA license and a Master’s Degree from the Academy of Economic Studies in Moldova.
Manoj Reba
Quality Manager
Manoj joined VEM in 2022. He has over 9 years of experience in Quality Engineering, primarily in the automotive and semiconductor industries. Manoj holds an MS degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Wayne State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Ropar.
Board
Jack Kavanaugh
Chairman of the Board
Jack founded VEM in 1986. He served as President until 2011. Jack graduated from Quincy College with a degree in Political Science. Prior to that he spent 3 years in the Navy. Jack has spent the majority of his career in the materials industry. He started at Sueske Brass and Copper and then ran a Copper and Brass company before founding Vacuum Engineering & Materials
Dennis Raney
Board member
Dennis Raney began a twenty-four year career at Hewlett Packard in 1970, and served in management positions in finance, information systems, manufacturing, real estate, and international divisions. These assignments included three years in Singapore as Finance and Administration Manager for South East Asia, four years as Chief Financial Officer of Intercontinental Operations, and seven years as Chief Financial Officer of HP’s European Operations, based in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, he spent four years building and leading HP’s real estate organization, which managed forty-five million square feet, and constructed facilities globally with an annual construction budget averaging two billion dollars. In 1993, Dennis joined Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Group as Chief Financial Officer. He later served as Chief Financial Officer of several technology companies, including California Microwave and Novell.
Jason Schneiderman
Corporate Secretary
Jason is legal counsel at Perkins Cole focused on the area of business law. His emphasis is on mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property licensing and general corporate matters. He advises companies on business plans, incorporation, financing, founders stock, employee equity plans, intellectual property protection, licensing, distribution and strategic agreements, and mergers and acquisitions. Jason also represents a number of search funds and has experience at all stages from formation, acquisition of targets, debt financing, general corporate matters, follow on investments to liquidation of the search fund. Jason has a J.D. degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, and a BA from the University of Colorado.
Steve Westrate
Board member
Steve Westrate has over 35 years experience in the global semiconductor capital equipment and related businesses as an executive, entrepreneur, investor, and consultant. He has held senior executive positions at Nanometrics, Novellus Systems (co-founder), Prometrix and Therma-Wave—both now merged with KLA-Tencor.
Steve has been an advisor to VEM since its inception and was asked to join the Board in 1994.
Stephanie McConnell
Board member
With over 25 years of experience across sectors including manufacturing and software, Stephanie has played a key role in expanding VEM’s offerings to include manufacturing and shield cleaning services over the last 15 years. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from California State University, Northridge.