Alan Lowe joined Asyst in September 2005 as senior vice president, global business solutions. He has 20 years of experience in general management, sales and business development for technology companies. From 2000 to 2003, he was president and chief executive officer of Read-Rite Corporation, a manufacturer of thin-film recording heads for disk and tape drives. He was president and chief operating officer of Read-Rite from 1997 to 2000. From 1989 to 1997, Lowe served in roles of increasing responsibility at Read-Rite, including senior vice president, customer business units, and vice president, sales. Prior to joining Read-Rite, he served in various sales positions with Microcom Corporation and IBM Corporation. He holds bachelor's degrees in computer science and business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.