Mark K. Allen is vice president of manufacturing and operations for C-Cube Semiconductor Corporation. The company, which recently went public, produces video compression and semiconductor circuits and presently is experiencing a 100% annual growth rate. While organizing the manufacturing operation for this young company, Allen is simultaneously completing his Master's of Business Administration in Operations Management at the University of California at Berkeley.

Allen received his bachelor's in electrical engineering from Purdue in 1978 and launched his career with National Semiconductor Corporation where he was section head in the thin films operation area and later section head of equipment evaluation. He was promoted to engineering manager for the CMOS and NMOS production line in San Jose and later became operations manager of CMOS development at that plant and directed the development of processes used in 80% of the company's newly designed CMOS products. In 1985 he became operations manager of National Semiconductor's CMOS fab unit in Arlington, Texas.

In 1990 Allen joined Cypress Semiconductor Corporation where he assumed profit and loss responsibility for the company's largest product line which produced $100 million in annual revenue. Allen was named vice president of worldwide manufacturing operations for Cypress in 1991 and was responsible for a $300 million corporate manufacturing operation. In this position, he directed sites in California, Texas, Minnesota, and Thailand and is credited with increasing overall yield by 30%, cutting cycle time by 45%, and, at the same time, cutting costs.