Andrew K. (Andy) Lorenz – SESHA Fellow and 2004 SESHA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Andy Lorenz received a degree in Liberal Arts from St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, in 1958. A certified teacher, he taught English, Speech and Debate and was assistant football coach at high schools in Missouri and Oklahoma in 1958, ’59, and ’60. He received the St. Louis University’s College of Arts and Sciences “Alumni Merit Award” in 1994.

In 1963 he joined Parker-Hannifin Corp., as Territory Manger for pneumatic and hydraulic components for the machine tool industry. He was co-inventor on a US patent for a pneumatic safety control systems for mechanical punch presses in 1965. In 1967 he was promoted to Industrial Sales Manager of Parker-Hannifin’s Hose Products Division, Cleveland, OH, and served as General Sales Manager of Parker’s Plastics Division, Kent, OH, from 1969 to 1974.

In 1974, he was a co-founder of Valin Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA, an industrial distributor of fluid connectors, valves, filters and control components. Early clients were Intel, IBM, Fairchild, AMD and National Semiconductor. He was awarded a patent on high purity / safety control systems for hazardous gases and chemicals in 1978. He founded Semi-Gas Systems, Inc., in 1980, becoming a leading US manufacturer of high-tech piping systems, purge panels and safety-containment cabinets. Semi-Gas was the charter supplier member of SEMI-SEMATECH, the supplier organization to Sematech, Austin, TX. He served as a Director of Semi-Sematech for two years.

Semi-Gas, with partner Hercules, Inc., developed and patented chemical based gas purification systems for Semiconductor applications in 1983. He established a licensee and manufacturing facility, Semi-Gas Ltd., Coventry, UK, in 1985. He divested Semi-Gas to Hercules in 1989. As President of the Semi-Gas Division of Hercules, he assisted in the divestiture of Semi-Gas, through Goldman-Sachs, to Nippon-Sanso (Japan Oxygen), becoming a division of their subsidiary, Matheson Gas Products, in 1990. Andy retired in 1991. He has been founder, venture partner, Chairman and Director of several start-up technology and safety related equipment companies, and has served as a consultant to various high tech industries since retirement.

Andy was founding Chairman of the “Safety Standards Committee” of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), the semiconductor equipment and materials industry’s principal trade organization, and served as Chairman of the Gases Safety Subcommittee for 4 years. He received the SEMI “Standards Leadership Award” for his work on industry safety and environmental standards. He also served as Chairman of the SEMI International Trade Partners Conference.

He was a frequent lecturer at US and International Semiconductor Industry conferences in Canada, England, Scotland, Europe, Israel, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore from 1980 to 1990. He was Chairman of the Academic and Scholarship Committee of SESHA (SSA -Semiconductor Safety Association) for 10 years, presenting Masters and Doctoral scholarships to over 100 graduate students at Universities in the US, Europe, Israel and the UK, and served as an SSA (SESHA) Director for two years. He is an SSA / SESHA “Fellow”, and received the “SESHA Lifetime Achievement Award” on April 14, 2004.

Andy and Sally Lorenz have been married for 45 years, have three children and three grandchildren, and live in La Quinta, California, where his hobbies are computers, woodworking, boating, inventing and travel. He taught beginning computers in the Desert Sands Unified School District-Adult School in 2003 and 2004.