Once again, the virtues of critical thinking and the ability to parse PR speak are evident:
Before its acquisition by Texas Instruments, Goerner held business unit, marketing and sales positions at Silicon Systems/TDK Group Co., culminating in his role as chief operating officer, office of the president. During his 17-year tenure, Silicon Systems experienced revenue growth from $15 million to $500 million.
What does this really say?
That he was selected to be the COO to the office of the president as his highest position. That he worked at Silicon Systems/TDK Group for 17 years. He didn't spend 17 as COO. It doesn't say that he took Silicon Systems from a $15M revenue company to a $500M revenue one. It says he was there as it happened.
He could have been in a mid-level sales position when it went from $15M to $430M in revenues, grabbed a marketing position for $430M to $450, and landed the COO job for a few years as it went to $500M or it could have gone from $15M to $800M back down to $500M. The PR doesn't detail any of it. Yes, the masses are supposed to assume that he was responsible for the steep revenue growth. That's a press release for you. But that's not what it actually says. To find out, you have to find his dates of tenure, compare that with Silicon Systems' historical yearly revenue, and then, if you can find details, compare that to his actual position at the time. Was this done?
I'm not going to make an argument one way or another about Goerner himself, but want to once again point out that PRs are far too often misread and used to spread misleading information. That's what they're designed to do but as investors, we have to be careful when reading them. Consider it a friendly public service anouncement about PRs, not Goerner (I don't want to get into a discussion about his qualifications or lack thereof).