Durham-based Cree is adding a new executive to help lead its LED lighting business.

Meanwhile, the company is also making some layoffs.

Cree on Thursday named industry veteran Daniel Castillo as president of lighting effective Nov. 7.

Lighting becomes even more important to Cree as it sells off its semiconductor and power business to focus on LEDs across a broad spectrum of offerings from consumer bulbs to industrial lighting.

Castillo will report directly to Cree Chair and CEO Chuck Swoboda.

“We have made tremendous progress over the past several years building a successful LED lighting business,” Swoboda said in the announcement. “The addition of Danny Castillo to the leadership team brings valuable industry expertise and proven business leadership to Cree as we scale the business to the next level.”

Castillo most recently worked at Eaton Corporation as Senior Vice President, Oil, Gas and IEC Assemblies. He also has experience in lighting and electrical products, having worked at General Electric and Cooper Industries.

“I am truly excited to join Cree at this stage in its evolution,” Castillo said. “The opportunity to work with a proven leader in LED innovation in the still early stages of LED lighting adoption is compelling. I look forward to working with the Cree Lighting team to deliver operational excellence and enhanced customer value across the business.”

Castillo earned an electrical engineering degree at Florida International University and an MBA at Columbia.

His career experiences

According to his LinkedIn profile, Castillo lists the following summary of his career experiences:

  • P&L leadership – Responsible for profitably growing all aspect of +$300M P&L. Consistently delivered revenue and profitability objectives.
  • Strategy – Responsible for conceptualization, execution and integration of sales and new product strategies to deliver share and margin growth.
  • Operations / Financial Turnaround – Used Lean / 6-Sigma processes and upgrading to significantly reduce manufacturing costs and reduce past due orders to customers.
  • Product Line Management / Marketing – Conceptualized and implemented processes that doubled new product sales vitality and increased efforts on higher growth segments.
  • Operations and Capital Management– Reduced product costs by over 40% and generated Cash in excess of earnings by reducing working capital requirements

Specialties:

  • Strategic Business Planning
  • Organic Growth & Acquisitions
  • Cost Reduction & Avoidance
  • Operations Leadership
  • Partnership & Alliance Development
  • Profit Optimization
  • New Business Development
  • Executive Team Building & Leadership
  • Turnaround & Crisis Management
  • Continuous Process Improvements
  • Product Planning & Commercialization
  • Market Penetration & Pricing Strategies
  • Organizational Restructuring & Talent Management

Cree layoffs

Meanwhile, in Sturtevant, Wisc., Cree confirmed laying off 2.5 percent of its local work force that numbers some 1,100.

“We can confirm a limited employment action. This action is in response to current business conditions. (Sturtevant) continues to be an important location for Cree, and we target further investment and hiring here,” the company told the Journal Times newspaper.

​The affected operations were once operated by Rudd Lighting, which Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) acquired.