Wayne Johnson

Wayne Johnson founded Soundside Partners based on the thesis that semiconductors, already ubiquitous in our everyday lives, will become even more foundational over the coming decades.

Wayne has been at the forefront of the semiconductor industry for nearly 25 years and has led R&D, product development, business development, sales, and marketing teams for publicly-listed international companies. From 2019-2023, Wayne was Executive VP of IQE plc, a leading supplier of advanced wafer
products to the semiconductor industry, where he was responsible for company-wide commercial activities. Previously, from 2015 to 2019, he was the co-founder of IQE's Power Business Unit, consolidating and leading global wide bandgap semiconductor activities. From 2010-2015, Wayne led technology development as VP of Technology at both IQE plc and Kopin Corporation. Previously, Wayne was an early employee at Nitronex Corporation, a pioneering startup that commercialized the world's first GaN/Si electronic devices. He also held technical
roles at Deposition Sciences, Inc. and Sandia National Laboratories.

 

Wayne received a BChE from Georgia Tech and a PhD from the University of Florida, both in Chemical Engineering. He has co-authored 3 book chapters, >200 journal articles, and conference presentations, and he holds 20 US patents. Wayne’s visibility across the industry has led to numerous invited and plenary talks at international conferences and he received a Best Speaker Award from SEMICON China in 2017. Wayne also received the Outstanding Young Alumnus
Award from the University of Florida Alumni Association and currently serves on the UF Department of Chemical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board.