Rick Wallace, KLA President and CEO, on the importance of embracing challenges

Rick Wallace (BSE EE 1982), the President and CEO of KLA, has been named the 2023 ECE Alumni Impact Award winner in honor of his distinguished career. The Alumni Impact Award is the highest recognition granted by ECE to its alumni.

“The education at Michigan was rigorous and difficult, but it taught me that I could learn more and I could do more,” Wallace said. “I think part of the success of KLA—and the success I’ve been fortunate enough to have—has to do with being affiliated with U of M.”

Wallace returned to campus to present his award lecture, “From Bursley to the Board Room – my journey from U-M Engineering to becoming a Fortune 500 CEO,” on November 10th. He spoke about his academic and professional career, and how embracing challenges set him up for success in leadership.

“I chose to study electrical engineering, because I loved electronics having been a Ham Radio operator and a computer hobbyist in high school, but I knew it was going to be difficult for me to keep up with the workload in Engineering,” Wallace said. “But I thought it was important, even at that age, to do things that were difficult.”

I thought it was important, even at that age, to do things that were difficult.

Rick Wallace, President and CEO of KLA

For Wallace, the challenging academic environment set him up to embrace perseverance, which has played a crucial role in his career. For instance, over the course of one summer when he was living in Michigan, he sent 100 resumes to different companies in Silicon Valley hoping to find a job. He received 100 rejections.

“I’m 24 years old, and my conclusion is, ‘Gee, I need to go there,’” Wallace said. “So, I sold everything I had, and I drove my Camaro T-top out to California.”

Wallace did find work, first at Cypress Semiconductor, which was a startup at the time. His final interview was with the founder of the company. 

“One of first things the founder said, was, ‘Wait, you’re a EE from Michigan?’” Wallace said. “It became pretty clear in that meeting that the degree was valued. I got the job.”

While at Cypress, Wallace realized he needed to learn more about semiconductor technology. He enrolled in a Masters of Engineering program at Santa Clara University in 1985, which was designed for working professionals in Silicon Valley.

“Once again, I was thankful for my Michigan degree, because I realized that I was well prepared to resume my engineering studies, even though it had been five years,” Wallace said.

Wallace gained further experience at Ultratech Stepper before joining KLA (named KLA Instruments at the time) as an Applications Engineer in 1988. He progressed through many different roles at KLA, including various technical marketing positions, before transitioning to business leadership responsibilities.

“I’ve been able to leverage the technical education I received at Michigan throughout my career in the semiconductor industry,” Wallace said.

I’ve been able to leverage the technical education I received at Michigan throughout my career in the semiconductor industry.

Rick Wallace, President and CEO of KLA

Wallace became President and CEO of KLA in 2005. Under his leadership, KLA has grown into a Fortune 500 semiconductor manufacturing equipment company with products that help enable the future of everything from AI to next generation chip design. KLA was recently recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the world’s best companies and by Newsweek as one of America’s greenest companies. 

“We heavily focus on culture,” Wallace said. “People will achieve more in a culture that is not divisive.”

Part of this strategy included opening a $200 million state-of-the-art second headquarters in Ann Arbor, MI. KLA believes that this will further attract top talent, because it offers the opportunity to work on cutting edge technology while capitalizing on the ease and comfort of the Midwestern lifestyle.

At the grand opening in 2021, Wallace told All About Ann Arbor, “We’re in a war for talent, so we have to create an environment like this that’s attractive for people. We also have to have a community that is desirable for people to live in. Ann Arbor punches well above its weight. It’s a great place to live. It’s a great place to grow a family.”

For Wallace, there are two crucial qualities a company needs to be successful: the ability to adapt and evolve as the world changes, and an ability to persevere through setbacks.

“Companies that are successful over the long term often do not have charismatic leaders,” Wallace said. “They have systems in place, and they have values. And those are the things that propel them, so that it’s not about the one person, the one ego.”

Wallace stressed key qualities that KLA adopted that have supported success:

1. Perseverance: “There are no overnight successes.”
2. Drive to be Better: “The world will change. Competition will change. Technology will change. You have to keep evolving or you die.”
3. High-performing teams: “Being an effective and contributing team member will always be a critical part of your success.”
4. Honest, Forthright & Consistent: “Being forthright is addressing the issues people are thinking about even if they are hard.”
5. Indispensable to customers: “The best message from customers is ‘we could not have done that without you.’”

Above all, Wallace stressed the most important quality a person can have is the willingness to learn new things and adapt.

“I don’t know any successful leader who doesn’t continuously learn new things,” Wallace said. “When we hire new people, it’s not about what they know as much as it’s about their capacity to learn. What we expect is curiosity.”

I don’t know any successful leader who doesn’t continuously learn new things.

Rick Wallace, President and CEO of KLA

Another key value Wallace emphasized was discipline. Wallace practices this by committing himself to doing what most challenges him. As an avid cyclist, for example, he hated climbing hills. To improve his training, he signed up for the Death Ride, which is a route that features five mountain hill climbs in the California Sierra Mountains.

“When you’re on programs that are difficult, you need to work through those issues and those challenges,” Wallace said. “So you set milestones, and it’s the accumulation of those achievements that results in success. But it requires discipline.”

Wallace also encouraged students to embrace a broader definition of success—one that is not measured by fancy titles or awards.

“Finding a way where you can contribute, where you can grow in your career and you have satisfaction in what you’re doing—that’s far more important than any specific title that you achieve,” Wallace said.

Wallace also serves on the Board of Directors for both KLA and Splunk Inc. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Proofpoint, NetApp, and Beckman Coulter. He is also a member of board of University of Michigan Alumni Association.