Dr. Saifi Usmani

Vice President and Head of Planarization,

EMD Electronics, the electronics business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Dr. Saifi Usmani is the Head of Planarization business of EMD Electronics, a business of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany. In this role, he has the P&L accountability of the company’s planarization business, a leading supplier of innovative CMP slurry solutions for metals and dielectric applications. Dr. Usmani has been involved with the planarization business since 2002 and has been mostly based at the company offices in Tempe, Arizona. For 2 years, Usmani also lived in Taiwan where he was GM Asia for the planarization business, known then as DA NanoMaterials, based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Under Dr. Usmani’s leadership, EMD Electronics has made significant investments in R&D, manufacturing and customer support infrastructure of the planarization business across various regions of US and Asia, particularly in Arizona, Taiwan and Korea. Usmani believes strongly in value creation via innovation, digitalization, and collaboration.

Dr. Usmani started his career as a CMP process engineer at Motorola Inc. followed by several leadership positions in R&D, General Management, Marketing & Sales at DA NanoMaterials and Versum Materials. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY. He also holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. Usmani lives in Ahwatukee, Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and two sons.