Charlotte, N.C., July 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc.(NASDAQ: AKTS), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal BulkONE bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today the appointment of Suzanne Rudy to its Board of Directors. Ms. Rudy, age 62, has more than 25 years of financial and corporate governance experience and will chair the Board’s audit committee. Her addition as Director fills the sixth seat on the Board.

Suzanne was Vice President of Tax & Corporate Treasurer, Compliance Officer and Assistant Secretary until November 2015 at Qorvo, Inc. (Nasdaq: QRVO), a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for the wireless communications market. During her tenure, she was responsible for all international matters, global tax, legal and risk management, negotiation and execution of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships and licensing agreements. In addition, Suzanne’s treasury duties included financing, traditional procurement of cash and equity transactions. She sat on the steering committee for Sarbanes-Oxley, was a director for all 40 subsidiaries of Qorvo, Inc. and a member of the investor relations team presenting to analysts around the world.

Prior to Qorvo, Suzanne was the Controller at Precision Fabrics Group, Inc. a textile spin-off of Burlington Industries. Additionally, she spent six years as a CPA and manager at the international accounting firm, BDO Seidman, LLP.

From 2012 to 2016, Suzanne was a Director for Delta Apparel, Inc., where she served on the audit and compensation committees. From 2008 to 2011, she was a director for CommunityOne Bank – acquired by Capital Bank Financial Corp in 2016, a $2B publicly traded company - where she served as chairwoman of the audit committee and chairwoman of asset & liability committee.

Suzanne earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master’s of Accounting Degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Commenting on the announcement, Akoustis Co-Chairman Jerry Neal, stated, “Suzanne is an incredibly accomplished and highly talented executive who brings a wealth of experience gained during her 16-year career at Qorvo. I am confident she will be a valuable addition to the Akoustis Board.”

Ms. Rudy commented, “I am proud to accept the board appointment and look forward to working with Co-Chairmen Jerry Neal and Art Geiss, and CEO Jeff Shealy and the entire Akoustis board and management team in creating and driving shareholder value. Given my background in the RF semi-conductor industry, I feel confident I can provide the team with meaningful support and insight.”

Akoustis is pioneering next-generation material science to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material properties drive electro-mechanical coupling, which translates to wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by leveraging the Company’s high-sound velocity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter.

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.

Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that designs and manufactures its unique, patented BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Its BulkONE® technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and consumers to diminish Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations. Akoustis’ capital-efficient business model leverages new and existing investments in manufacturing infrastructure within the semiconductor industry. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001 certified commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a state-of-the-art class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filter, MEMS and semiconductor devices. Akoustis is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.