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Claude Dardanne was born near Limoges (France) in 1952. He graduated from the Ecole Sup�rieure d'Ing�nieurs en G�nie Electrique de Rouen in France with a Master�s degree in Electronic Engineering.
After graduation, Dardanne spent 5 years at Thomson Semiconducteur in France before moving to North America for the Company as a Field Application Engineer. During that time he wrote a book on one of Thomson�s key microprocessor products. From 1982, Dardanne was responsible for marketing of Microcontrollers & Microprocessor products in North America, where his efforts contributed significantly to the growth of Thomson�s market share in microcontrollers for the automotive industry. Back in France in 1987, Dardanne was appointed Thomson�s Worldwide Marketing Manager for Microcontrollers & Microprocessors.
In 1989, Dardanne joined Apple Computer, France, as Marketing Director, responsible for business development in segments including Industrial, Education, Banking, and Communications. This experience helped him acquire a profound knowledge of end-user equipment and computer markets.
From 1991 to 1994, Dardanne served as Marketing Director at Alcatel-Mietec in Belgium. During this period, Alcatel-Mietec successfully diversified its ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) portfolio and entered new markets, such as Automotive and Industrial.
In 1994, Dardanne rejoined Thomson (which by then had merged with SGS Microelettronica) as Director of Central Marketing for the Memory Products Group (MPG). In 1998, Dardanne became the head of the EEPROM division and succeeded in establishing ST as the worldwide leader in Serial EEPROM and #1 supplier to the automotive industry.
In 2002, he was promoted to Vice President of the Memory Products Group and General Manager of the Serial Non-Volatile Memories division. Under Dardanne�s direction, the Company grew its worldwide market share in Serial EEPROM and established the new standard in Serial Non-Volatile Memories based on NOR Flash technology. With more than 30% market share in serial EEPROM and more than 40% in Serial Flash, ST became the indisputable worldwide leader in Serial Non-Volatile Memories.
In 2004, Dardanne was promoted to Deputy General Manager, Memory Products Group, where his responsibilities included the management of ST�s Smart Card Division. On January 1st 2007, Claude Dardanne was promoted to Corporate Vice President and General Manager of ST�s newly created Microcontrollers, Memories & Smartcards (MMS) Group, which is part of ST�s Industrial & Multisegment Sector. | 