Franz Janker was named executive vice president of Sales and Marketing in December 2004. He is responsible for Applied Materials sales worldwide, including regional operations in North America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and the People’s Republic of China. As part of Applied Materials’ growth strategy, Mr. Janker is focused on delivering higher levels of customer satisfaction and growing market share in its core products and new businesses. Under his leadership, Applied Materials has received numerous awards from leading customers around the world as a key supplier, partner and enabler of their success. Mr. Janker has been an integral part of the Company’s success for more than 20 years, having joined Applied Materials in 1982 when total sales worldwide were less than $100 million. Beginning as a sales manager for Central Europe he expanded his role progressively through several positions in Europe and the United States, assuming responsibility for worldwide business operations in 2002. Through the development of Applied Materials’ customer-focused global account management structure, Mr. Janker implemented a new approach to customer relations and sales to match the increased globalization of the semiconductor industry and allow for rapid growth of Applied Materials broad set of technology solutions. In 1995, Mr. Janker was named vice president of Corporate Marketing where he was responsible for identifying and pursuing new business opportunities for Applied Materials, delivering global marketing programs and enabling key corporate initiatives. Reflecting the increased responsibility and core value of his role, he was promoted to senior vice president in 2002, group vice president in 1999 and corporate vice president in 1995. Mr. Janker joined Applied Materials from IBM where he served in a variety of engineering, sales and marketing management roles within its European operations. He received his bachelor of science degree in industrial economics from Munich University in 1972.