Vice President and general manager, Americas Sales and Applications team, Texas Instruments, USA.

Ray Upton is Vice President and general manager of the Americas Sales and Applications team for Texas Instruments.  He has held this position since 2009.  Prior to his current role, Ray managed Texas Instruments’ Standard Linear and Logic Business after leading the startup of TI’s Catalog Automotive product line.  From May 2003 through June 2007, Ray was responsible for leading the semiconductor sales and applications team in the Northeast US and Eastern Canada.    From 1995 through 2003, he held various positions in the sales organization, including leading the North American Distribution Sales Operation, managing Analog sales in Texas, and various sales roles in Florida, Alabama, and Texas.  Ray joined the company in 1995 after earning a bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Ray Upton spoke about making informed decisions when managing large teams to provide a background to be successful in various roles. He has worked hard to build development plans for team members that continuously challenge and educate -- and enable them to tackle problems with gusto.  Those experiences can include everything from role changes or promotions, increasing responsibilities (from small and large customer experience to distribution and operation experience), even to unique adventures like working in one of TI’s global outposts, which gives exposure to a wide range of challenges they could or will be faced with, which builds both capability and confidence.