Matthew Neville

Element Partners

Operating Partner

Biography

As an Operating Partner, Matthew is responsible for helping to support Element's advanced material and advanced fuels investments. Matthew is currently Chairman of one of Element's portfolio companies and a technical consultant to another.

Matthew founded and was formerly the Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and President of Cabot Microelectronics. Matthew brings over 25 years of experience in the general management of high technology manufacturing companies and advanced material suppliers. He spent his early career at Cabot Corporation where he advanced through managerial positions in research, material development, and engineering for a broad suite of base materials. In 1992, Matthew recognized a unique opportunity for Cabot Corporation to build a highly profitable semiconductor materials business. Over the next several years Matthew led the development and market launch of a proprietary technology platform for metal CMP. As a result of tremendous success in the market, Sam Bodman, the former CEO of Cabot Corporation, asked Matthew in 1995 to build a new business for Cabot Corporation. The creation and funding of the Microelectronics Materials Division became the cornerstone of what is now Cabot Microelectronics Corporation.

From 1992 until 2003, under Matthew's leadership, Cabot Microelectronics grew into a global public company that is the market leader in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), polishing slurries which enable the manufacturing of leading edge semiconductor devices. While Matthew served as Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and President, Cabot Microelectronics increased revenues from $2 million annually to over $250 million annually, while sustaining 50% gross profit margins and obtaining 80% market share in semiconductor slurry sales. Cabot Micro became a global business, growing the workforce from 4 employees to over 500 employees located in 11 different countries and expanding operations to 5 dedicated manufacturing facilities in 3 key regions; US, Asia and Europe.

In 2000, Matthew successfully led the initial public offering of Cabot Microelectronics onto the Nasdaq. Under his leadership, the market capitalization of the company grew to over $1.5 billion. Matthew was later credited for successfully managing Cabot Microelectronics through the worst downturn in the semiconductor industry, while growing revenues and maintaining both corporate earnings and margins.

Mathew serves on the board of directors of: Nanoproducts Inc. and PPT Research Inc. Previous boards on which he has served include: Cabot Microelectronics, Inc. Mathew holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and a ScD in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.