Oak Technology announced today that John Squire has been promoted to senior vice president and general manager of Oak's Optical Storage Group (OSG), reporting to chairman and CEO, Young Sohn. Previously, Squire served as vice president of systems engineering for OSG, and will have responsibility for driving the growth and digital media focus of the company's optical storage group.

"Oak is committed to leadership in the CD and DVD recording market, and as we expand our product portfolio of optical recording solutions, I want to further strengthen the expertise of our management team in this area," said Sohn. "John's appointment is the latest step in this direction. He has done a tremendous job as vice president of systems engineering for OSG since joining Oak in May, and his extensive technology development background and management leadership expertise will be of great benefit in helping Oak to attain its digital media vision."

"Oak has leading positions in the CD-RW, Combo, and DVD recording markets, and I am impressed with the progress the company has made in building an optical storage solutions presence with its leading customers," said Squire. "I am very excited about my new role at Oak and look forward to making significant impact in the acceleration of the Optical Storage Group's product development and business growth."

Prior to joining Oak, Squire served as senior vice president of engineering at Maxtor Corporation, where he developed business and technical cases for a new family of Hard Disk Drive (HDD) products. He also held a variety of executive technology positions at Quantum Corporation, including senior vice president of engineering, PC and Desktop Division; vice president and chief quality officer of the Hard Disk Drive Group; vice president and general manager of the Desktop and Portable Storage Division and subsequently vice president of engineering. During his 13-year tenure at Quantum, Squire launched numerous HDD products and most recently led a division-wide initiative for enhanced technology and product development resulting in significantly improved product quality and faster development cycles. Squire holds an MSEE and BSEE degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and holds two U.S. patents.