CSV Advisor

Charles J. Abbe BS ENGR '63 MENGR '65

President/COO (retired)
JDS Uniphase
San Jose

Charles J. Abbe, 61 years old, recently announced his retirement as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director of JDS Uniphase Corporation. He held this appointment following the merger of Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc. (OCLI) with JDS Uniphase Corporation in February 2000. Prior to the merger, Jay served as President and Chief Executive Officer of OCLI in Santa Rosa, California, since April 1998. He joined OCLI in April 1996 as Vice President and General Manager of its principal operating unit.

Prior to joining OCLI, Mr. Abbe spent six years at Raychem Corporation in Menlo Park, California. After a short assignment as vice president of strategic planning, he served as vice president and general manager of the company¿s wire and cable business from 1991 to 1993, followed by an appointment as senior vice president, electronics sector, until leaving Raychem in early 1996.

From 1971 to 1989, Mr. Abbe practiced business consulting with McKinsey & Company, Inc. in that Firm¿s San Francisco office. Over this eighteen-year period, the last seven years of which were as senior partner, his work was concentrated in a wide range of technology driven and natural resource based businesses in North America, Europe, and Asia. Much of his work had to do with business strategy development.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Mr. Abbe spent four years with the United States Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory in Edwards, California. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Today, Mr. Abbe serves as a director of CoSine Communications Inc. and chairman, TrueTime Inc. He is also non-executive chairman of Nova Crystals, Inc., a venture backed optical components company and a director of Nova-Sol - an engineering firm serving the aerospace and defense markets. Jay has also been active for many years in several philanthropic organizations; today he serves as chairman of the trustees at Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania and as a director of the Santa Rosa Symphony. He resides with his wife on their ranch in Healdsburg, California.