Company Leadership

Mr. Petersen, one of the organization's original founders, has guided OCZ from startup to industry leader. A lifelong technologist and SSD pioneer, Mr. Petersen is the inventor or co-inventor of much of OCZ's proprietary technology. Prior to OCZ, Mr. Petersen was an innovator in the field of semiconductor enhancement.

With over 30 years of business and financial experience, Mr. Knapp joined OCZ in 2005 and is responsible for all finance related operations at OCZ. Mr. Knapp previously served as Chief Financial Officer at publicly-held high-tech companies such as Duquesne Systems, LEGENT Corporation, Boole & Babbage, and Calico Commerce. Mr. Knapp also spent 10 years in public accounting, is a CPA /CMA , and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Penn State University.

Mr. Mei is the executive vice president and Chief Marketing Officer at OCZ and is responsible for multiple functions including strategy and solutions, and oversees corporate marketing and field marketing initiatives. Upon joining OCZ in 2004, he brought a decade of experience in brand and product marketing focused on consumer and component solutions in the channel, system integration, and the retail space. Mr. Mei has held multiple senior level marketing management positions in high-tech firms, most recently serving for 5 years as Global Marketing Manager for First International Computer Inc. Mr. Mei holds a B.S. in Marketing Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo University.

Mr. Singh is responsible for managing the worldwide sales and business development team as well as directly contributing to the company's fast paced growth in the Enterprise and Channel SSD market. Mr. Singh previously served as the Senior VP of Sales during the company's rapid expansion in 2005 to 2007 when the company had 80% CAGR and first went public in London. Thus, while he is quite accustomed to a high growth environment, his background is now particularly well-suited to OCZ's current SSD Enterprise initiatives as he has previous storage industry experience from working at Samsung's storage division, Toshiba Disk Products, and Seagate Technology. In addition to these companies, Mr. Singh has also held positions in other technology companies such as Corsair Memory Inc. and ON-Stream Data. Overall, he has more than 20 years of sales and management experience in the high tech industry.

Mr. Apps is responsible for production operations, business systems, telecommunications, and related technology infrastructure throughout the company. Previously he held the position of General Manager for OCZ's European branch, and prior to that was the General Manager of the Canadian branch. Mr. Apps was instrumental in the expansion into these new regions and opened and built the infrastructure for both of those organizations. Prior to joining OCZ Canada in 2003 Mr. Apps was involved in several entrepreneurial activities and founded companies such as IANAG, Review Locater, and Ramstore Canada. Mr. Apps studied Computer Science at the University of Windsor, Canada.

Mr. Lee is the Sr. Vice President of Product Management and BU General Manager and is responsible for all operations within the company’s PSU Division, which includes both OCZ and PC Power and Cooling brands. Mr. Lee has over 15 years of experience in the computer components industry and previously served as OCZ’s Sr. VP of Strategic Marketing and Business Alliances from 2002 to 2005, during of which he introduced OCZ first power supplies to the market. Mr. Lee most recently served as the Product Manager of PSU’s at Corsair from 2006-2011, and prior to this has held multiple positions at other hi-tech companies in the space including Abit and Minerva Networks. Mr. Lee holds B.A. in Economics from University of California Berkley.

Mr. Chang is the Vice President of Purchasing at OCZ and oversees procurement for the complete spectrum of SSD storage, memory, and power management. Mr. Chang has over fifteen years of experience in product management and product development in both components and systems. He has held senior level product management positions at Everex, First International Computer, and Twinhead. Most recently he served as the Product Marketing Manager at Everex Systems where he developed a variety of branded systems across multiple platforms which successfully sold through major retail and e-tail channels. Mr. Chang holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego.

Mr. Lang is responsible for developing and executing the company's product management strategy as well as building and strengthening the company's world-class FAE team. Prior to joining OCZ in 2009, Mr. Lang served for eight years at AMD as the Strategic Alliance Manager focused on storage technology. In addition, he has held high level positions at other hi-tech companies including Aureal Semiconductor and Diamond Multimedia. Mr. Lang studied Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo University.

Mr. Nguyen joined OCZ in 2008 and is responsible for manufacturing operations for the complete spectrum of OCZ storage solutions and is responsible for bringing up the organization's APAC manufacturing facilities. Prior to OCZ Mr. Nguyen served as the VP of Operations for Corsair and also held multiple high level positions at other hi-tech companies within the industry including Lexar Media where he was also the VP of Operations, Sandisk and Solectron. Mr. Nguyen holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo.

Dr. Schuette is responsible for driving OCZ's Technology Development and for coordinating with the OCZ product development team on technology implementation. Dr. Schuette has held various technology development positions with computer and memory manufacturers, most recently with Enhanced Memory Systems, a division of Ramtron Int. (RMTR). He is widely known as a technology author, a prolific inventor, the founder of the popular technical website, LostCircuits and the Co-Founder of Data-Secure, LLC. Dr. Schuette holds a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Physics from the Ludwig Maximilian's University, Munich.

Mr. Stoetzel is responsible for managing the EMEA sales team and contributing to the company's fast paced growth in the European Enterprise and Channel SSD market. Mr. Stoetzel joined OCZ in 2006 and previously served as the Director of Sales (DACH) during the company's rapid expansion in the region. He has previous industry experience from working at Tandon Computer Corporation, Tyan Computer Europe, Ciron GmbH, and Aquarius Systems International. In addition to these companies, Mr. Stoetzel studied at Freiburg University in Germany and has more than 25 years of sales and other technical experience in the computer industry.

Mr. Tout has over 20 years experience in firmware and silicon architecture and is responsible for leading multi-discipline and multi-location teams that develop next generation SoCs and firmware for OCZ solid state drives. Mr. Tout joined OCZ in 2011 through the acquisition of PLX Technology’s UK Storage Division and has previously held senior engineering and management positions at other technology companies including Oxford Semiconductor, Madge Networks and Racal Research. Mr. Tout holds a MA in Engineering from Cambridge University.

Ms. Van Vleck is responsible for recruiting and retaining the talented team of OCZ employees across all continents as well as overseeing corporate services, policies, and programs for the entire organization. Upon joining OCZ in 2011, she brought over 25 years of experience in human resources. Ms. Van Vleck previously most recently served for over ten years as Senior Director of Human Resources for VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. and has also held multiple senior level HR positions at other companies including Amdahl Corporation and Kyocera International. In addition to being certified in HR Management, Ms. Van Vleck is a member of professional organizations including SHRM, NCHRA, NASPP and holds a B.S. in Business Administration – Human Resources Management from Excelsior College.

Mr. Wagner joined OCZ in 2011 and possesses over seventeen years of experience in product development and strategic alliances. At OCZ he is responsible for the development of solid state storage solutions that address the complete spectrum of enterprise applications. Mr. Wagner most recently served as the Director of Alliances for 12 years at AMD. During his tenure at AMD he formed alliances with numerous key strategic partners including ATi and NVIDIA, launched and validated the company's first chipset with these companies, and successfully managed the organization's 64 bit device driver ecosystem. Mr. Wagner has also served in management positions at other publicly held companies including ATi and Sega, and holds a B.S. in Economics and a Minor in Computer Science from Sacramento State University.