Karen Armendariz | President

Karen is currently the President of Celadon Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of MPI Corporation.  Karen has over 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry.  Karen has held a variety of leadership positions throughout her career in manufacturing, engineering, as well as sales, and marketing at Intel Corp., Cyrix, National Semiconductor, Creation Technologies, and TEXSource, a leading manufacturer’s rep firm in the semiconductor industry.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Oklahoma City University. Karen has authored numerous forward-thinking on-wafer probing technical publications relevant to extreme temperature testing including cryogenics, high power, and lifetime performance.  Karen is an active member of the Semiconductor Wafer Test Workshop (SWTW) Steering Committee since 2015, and is a founding member of SWT Crew, whose mission is to close the gender gap in probe.  Karen enjoys traveling, outdoor activities as well as spending time with family and friends.

Jennifer Nichols | Director of Finance and Operations

Jennifer is responsible for fiscal management and planning, internal controls, and budgeting.  She came to Celadon in 2014 having spent most of her career in the banking industry, most recently as a Regional Manager for $100+ billion Savings and Loan.  Jennifer earned her B.A. in Mathematics from St. Olaf College.  Jennifer also serves on the board of directors for EVCF, an organization that gives scholarships and grants to local school districts.

Bill Funk | Chief Technology Officer

Bill has enjoyed a life-long passion to design and build.  With an Aerospace engineering degree from University of Minnesota, Bill worked the first half of his career with Beech aircraft and Rosemount Aerospace.  Bill then spent a few years doing factory automation and medical consulting.  Finally, Bill joined Bryan Root in his basement, 21 years ago, to help build Celadon. 

Joan Hennes | Director of Manufacturing

Joan attended Minnesota State University, Mankato, with a focus on business and  engineering.  She started her career in Manufacturing at Rosemont Control Division where she gained 11 years of experience in production and training. Joan came to Celadon over 20 years ago as a production lead. After holding a variety of positions in manufacturing leadership, R&D, and manufacturing engineering, Joan was promoted to Director of Manufacturing in 2014. Joan enjoys camping, boating and time with family and friends.

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