Bill Watkins CEO of LED Maker Bridgelux

Ousted from Seagate over one year ago where he was CEO, Bill Watkins, 57, comes back as an executive in the industry as CEO of LED manufacturer Bridgelux, a start-up that has raised $122 million.

He is also currently at the board of Vertical Circuits, supplier of die level vertical interconnect packaging technology, products, services and intellectual property for the manufacture of low-cost, ultra high-speed/high-density semiconductor components.

In Bridgelux, there is also as director a storage veteran, Nelson Chan, who served from 1992 through 2006 in various senior management positions at SanDisk, most recently as executive VP and GM, consumer business.