Leadership

Dr. Russell Low became Axcelis’ CEO in May 2023. Dr. Low joined Axcelis in October 2016, first serving as Executive Vice President, Engineering and then as Executive Vice President, Global Customer and Engineering Operations effective January 2021. Prior to joining the Company, Dr. Low held the position of Vice President of Engineering, MOCVD Business Unit at Veeco Instruments since 2013, prior to which he was Veeco’s Senior Director of Engineering, Molecular Beam Epitaxy Business Unit beginning in 2012.

From 2003 to 2012, Dr. Low held a number of positions at Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, most recently as Director of Technology. Prior to that, Dr. Low held engineering positions in the thermal processing and ion implant divisions of Applied Materials, Inc. Dr. Low received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University. He also holds an Executive MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a BS degree from Southampton University, and was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University.  He has 44 granted US patents over multiple categories and has authored over 20 refereed papers.  Dr. Low joined the North American Advisory Board (NAAB) of SEMI International in 2023 and the Massachusetts High Tech Council Board in 2024.
 

David Ryzhik joined Axcelis as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy in July 2024 and has served as Interim Chief Financial Officer since March 2026. Mr. Ryzhik brings more than 20 years of finance, capital markets, and investor relations experience across multiple industries. Prior to joining Axcelis, Mr. Ryzhik was Vice President of Investor Relations at MKS Instruments. Prior to MKS, Mr. Ryzhik was Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the Industrial Technology and Distributed Ledger Technology sectors at Susquehanna International Group (SIG). Prior to SIG, Mr. Ryzhik served as Senior Research Associate at Brean Capital, and he also held financial roles in public administration at the NYC Mayor's Office of Management & Budget and the NYC Fire Department. Mr. Ryzhik holds a Master of Business Administration in Financial Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Pace University's Lubin School of Business. Mr. Ryzhik is a board member of the National Investor Relations Institute's Boston Chapter.

Ms. Evans joined the company in 2024 and currently serves as Executive Vice President, HR/Legal and General Counsel. Ms. Evans brings more than 25 years of legal and technology business experience to Axcelis. Before joining Axcelis, she served as Chief Legal Officer at SunPower, a solar and energy services provider, whose key assets were acquired by Complete Solaria. Prior to that, Ms. Evans served as Chief Administrative Officer at Redaptive, a tech-enabled sustainability-as-a-service company, where she led the human resources and legal teams.  Previously, she served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Micro Focus International, a British multinational software and information technology company; Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Hewlett-Packard Company; and Associate General Counsel at Oracle Corporation and Sun Microsystems. Eileen earned her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Davis and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Linux Foundation.
 

Robert Mahoney became Axcelis’ Executive Vice President, Global Operations in 2025, having formerly served as Senior Vice President, Global Operations since 2014. He has responsibility for all aspects of production including the manufacturing, logistics, global sourcing, facilities and EHS organizations. Rob joined Axcelis in 2005, first serving as Vice President of Quality and Product Support, and then as Vice President, Global Service Solutions and Quality. With over 30 years of experience in manufacturing technology, primarily in the semiconductor capital equipment industry, Rob brings a unique blend of leadership and technical expertise gained over a distinguished career. Before joining Axcelis, Rob held multiple senior management positions including Global Quality Manager at Varian Semiconductor and Director of Quality Assurance at Genus. Rob began his career in various manufacturing engineering roles at Textron Defense Systems. Rob holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and a M.S. in Management from Lesley University.