June 4, 2012 – Cree‘s John Kurtzweil has resigned as executive vice president-finance and CFO, effective May 21, to pursue an opportunity at Extreme Networks, “a smaller firm where I can have a more hands-on role in growing the business,” he explained.

Michael McDevitt has been appointed CFO on an interim basis. Cree has commissioned a search for a replacement through Russell Reynolds Associates, executive search consultants.

Kurtzweil plans to continue as a Cree employee until June 15 to assist with the transition of his responsibilities. “The decision to leave Cree was a very difficult one for me as the past six years have been personally rewarding,” he said.

“We appreciate John’s contributions in helping grow Cree from $400 million in revenues in fiscal 2007 to over a billion dollars in annualized revenues today,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chair and CEO. “He has built a strong finance team and a foundation for future growth. We wish him continued success.”

Swoboda also commented on Cree’s previously announced business outlook for the fiscal quarter ending in June, “We are encouraged with our progress in growing the business through the first half of the quarter. At this point, we remain on track with our targets.”

Interim CFO McDevitt joined Cree in 2002 as corporate controller and previously served as interim CFO in 2006 during an earlier transition. He has also served as Cree’s director of financial planning and as director of sales operations.