We mean it when we say we want to hire the best and give them opportunities for career advancement. Could you be the next leader at Cirrus Logic?
Meet Jason Rhode, Cirrus Logic’s president and CEO since 2007. Jason began his career straight out of college in 1995 after receiving his doctorate from North Carolina State. Jason’s career path took him from IC design, to design management, to marketing, to a general manager and, ultimately, CEO.
From the onset, Jason was a key contributor to the company. One of his earliest projects was serving as a designer for the CS4334 audio codec, which to this day is the highest-selling digital-to-analog converter in the company’s history. In 2002 Jason landed a gig in marketing, a job that took him around the world where he got to drink beer in countries all around the world while meeting with – and learning from – some of the world’s best customers.
“It was a great experience,” Jason says of his role in marketing. “Until you go on the road and meet with your customers you don’t appreciate how difficult their decision making process really is.”
Jason became general manager of the Mixed Signal Audio Division in 2004 and quickly led the company’s resurgence with a revamped line of low-power audio codecs for the world’s biggest customers in mobile entertainment. As CEO, Jason has led the company toward a focused approach in audio and energy markets, driven by highly specialized products for the leading customers in those markets.
In the process, Rhode has helped to shape a corporate culture that revolves around the company’s roots in audio. The results have worked: Cirrus Logic regularly appears near the top of several “best places to work” surveys.
“It matters that people love their jobs,” Rhode said. “One third of your life is spent at home, one third is spent sleeping, one third is spent at work. So you better have a good mattress and you better like your job.”
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