Sixtron names gas industry vet Steven Lerner to board

Sixtron Advanced Materials has named industrial gas industry exec Steven Lerner as a strategic adviser and member of its board. The company says that Lerner, who was CTO of Praxair and serves on a number of advisory boards, will provide crucial insight and counsel as it deploys silane-free antireflective coating systems to crystalline-silicon PV cell companies.

“The fact that an industry heavyweight like Steve Lerner has chosen to work with Sixtron underscores our readiness and commitment to serve the needs of the world’s top PV cell suppliers,” said company CEO Zbigniew Barwicz. “Steve Lerner’s expertise in specialty gas technologies and experience serving top multinational industrial customers will help us ensure Sixtron can deliver world-class products and services to all the top-producing PV cell fabs around the globe.”

“I chose to partner with Sixtron because they stand-out in having developed a value-added,
cost-saving solution that provides unique benefits to the PV industry,” said Lerner. “I am honored to work with this team of experts as they make their silane-free gas deposition system available on a global basis.”

Lerner was CTO and senior VP at Praxair from 2001 through 2008, a company he joined as manager of process chemistry in applications R&D in 1989. Lerner holds a bachelor’s degree in
mechanical engineering from the Cooper Union, NY, and a doctorate in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, where he was a recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. He is also a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program.

Lerner is a board member and former chairman of the Industrial Research Institute, and
serves on advisory boards for Anellotech, The University at Buffalo School of
Engineering & Science, and Princeton University Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.

He holds 10 patents and has published articles in numerous scientific publications.