“Leave it better than he found it.”
Michael McQueen is an accomplished manufacturing and operations executive whose career spans 39 years of leadership across semiconductor technology, electronics, advanced manufacturing, precision casting, industrial production, supply chain operations, and military service. Currently serving as President & COO of Spectra Vista Corporation, Michael has built his career around a straightforward philosophy: organizations perform at their best when strong processes, disciplined execution, innovative technology, and committed people work together. His ability to move comfortably between the production floor and executive-level business decisions has enabled him to transform operations, develop high-performing teams, and consistently pursue measurable improvements in quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.
Michael’s professional journey reflects a steady progression from hands-on manufacturing leadership to enterprise-level operational responsibility. Early in his career, he spent nearly nine years with High Technology Computers, advancing into senior supervisory leadership and helping direct five supervisors and more than 150 employees across five manufacturing departments. His teams produced sophisticated electronic subassemblies, including fiber-optic cables, high-speed transmission lines, ribbon cables, high-voltage cables, and OEM cable products. He also played an instrumental role in implementing, training personnel on, and operating new surface-mount technology and through-hole equipment used in PCBA manufacturing for customers that included IBM, Pitney Bowes, ENI Technologies, and the United States Postal Service. Those formative experiences established the foundation for Michael’s enduring expertise in manufacturing execution, workforce development, electronics, technology, and operational discipline.
Michael subsequently joined DuPont Photomasks, where he supervised 25 technicians operating within a Class 10 cleanroom environment. Responsible for maintaining both production quality and delivery performance, he also demonstrated an ability to lead teams across cultural and communication differences. His intensive computer training efforts supported a multicultural workforce and contributed to his team’s successful ISO 9000/9001 audit performance. His efforts ultimately helped inspire broader employee training initiatives in areas including English as a Second Language and Microsoft Word and Excel. This chapter of his career reinforced an important principle that would remain central to his leadership approach: sustainable operational excellence depends as much on developing people as it does on improving technology and processes.
At Tesa Tape, Michael expanded his leadership responsibilities within a demanding heavy-industrial manufacturing environment. He was promoted to manage a three-shift union operation, overseeing six supervisors responsible for meeting daily and weekly production, yield, and delivery requirements. His responsibilities extended across adhesives, coating, converting, extrusion, duct tape manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, production planning, and procurement. With responsibility touching approximately 125 production employees as well as a logistics organization, Michael further developed the broad operational perspective that would later characterize his executive leadership. His experience coordinating production schedules, inventory requirements, supplier negotiations, logistics, workforce performance, and customer commitments strengthened his understanding of how individual operating functions must work together to produce sustainable business results.
A defining period of Michael’s career came during his more than 17 years with eMagin Corporation, where he served as Senior Manufacturing Manager and led sophisticated 24/7 manufacturing operations encompassing both cleanroom and non-cleanroom environments. His responsibilities reached across production planning, inventory management, safety, employee leadership, vendor negotiations, payroll, workforce development, performance management, quality, and KPI-driven operational improvement. He worked closely with cross-functional and R&D teams on the development and manufacturing of advanced microdisplay technologies while maintaining focus on machine uptime, employee productivity and efficiency, department quality, delivery performance, waste reduction, and plant safety. His extensive experience in semiconductors, manufacturing, continuous improvement, Lean Manufacturing, process engineering, operations management, and cross-functional team leadership is further reflected in the breadth of his professional skills profile.
Michael’s tenure at eMagin also produced some of the most measurable achievements of his career. He recruited and cross-trained 30 employees as part of an expansion that increased production output by more than 50% and contributed to a $16 million cash surplus within two years. He reduced equipment downtime by approximately 30%, maintained customer return rates at 0.02% or less, and achieved 100% inventory accuracy for finished goods and raw materials through effective utilization of a Manufacturing Execution System. Michael also managed approximately $2.5 million in raw-material inventory to support production schedules while controlling cash requirements, developed packaging solutions that eliminated customer shipment damage, and helped create workforce improvements associated with exceptionally low employee turnover. These accomplishments illustrate his ability to connect operational improvements with broader financial, customer, and organizational outcomes.
Following eMagin, Michael brought his manufacturing leadership to Lamothermic Precision Investment Castings as Wax Department Manager. There, he directed manual and automatic wax injection operations as well as a critical sprewing department supporting metal castings used across aerospace, commercial, medical, military, power-generation, and other markets. Under his leadership, production output increased by approximately 25%, with weekly efficiency reaching 95–98%. He also introduced cross-training initiatives to improve workforce flexibility and morale, helped reduce employee turnover by 40%, and expanded training and awareness efforts designed to strengthen workplace safety. The position further broadened Michael’s experience by placing his operational leadership within a precision-manufacturing environment serving highly diverse and demanding end markets.
Michael’s career ultimately progressed into executive leadership at Spectra Vista Corporation, where he joined the organization in 2023 and currently serves as President & COO. In this capacity, he leads multidisciplinary operations involving production technicians, shipping and receiving, procurement, inventory control, sales, marketing, and broader business management. His responsibilities include Profit & Loss management, financial performance, production execution, external sales development, market visibility, customer service, and achievement of key operating objectives. The role brings together the disciplines Michael has developed throughout his career—manufacturing excellence, financial accountability, people leadership, technology, quality, supply chain management, strategic planning, and customer focus—and applies them at the enterprise level.
His technical and operational knowledge extends well beyond traditional production management. Michael’s experience encompasses operational efficiency, inventory control, budgeting, cost control, P&L management, production planning, project management, risk management, regulatory compliance, supply chain management, product development, R&D collaboration, quality systems, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma methodologies, root cause analysis, SPC, value stream mapping, process engineering, ISO systems, and continuous improvement. His professional skills profile additionally demonstrates experience across semiconductor manufacturing, electronics, quality management, manufacturing engineering, failure analysis, thin films, FMEA, CAPA, Kaizen, Kanban, 5S, and related operational disciplines. This combination allows him to examine organizational challenges through operational, technical, financial, and human-capital perspectives rather than viewing performance through a single functional lens.
Michael also brings an international perspective developed through exposure involving China, India, Canada, Germany, France, and Italy. That global experience complements a career spent working with complex supply chains, diverse teams, demanding customers, sophisticated technologies, and organizations where quality and reliability are fundamental to success. His professional interests are particularly aligned with semiconductor, electronics, manufacturing, and military or defense-related organizations, although he remains open to opportunities across industries. For board and advisory service, his experience offers a practical operator’s perspective on questions involving manufacturing scalability, operational risk, quality, workforce development, supply chain performance, technology implementation, cost control, and organizational execution.
Long before reaching the executive suite, Michael developed his leadership foundation through service in the United States Army, where he attained the rank of Sergeant/E-5. He was promoted to Sergeant in two years and nine months and received multiple recognitions for his service, including Sergeant of the Quarter, Soldier of the Year at Fort Hood, and Distinguished Honor Graduate recognition. The discipline, accountability, perseverance, and responsibility associated with military leadership became enduring elements of his professional approach. Rather than separating leadership from execution, Michael has consistently viewed leadership as an obligation to establish clear expectations, develop others, confront challenges constructively, and remain accountable for results.
Michael complements his extensive professional experience with a strong academic foundation. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership and Communications from Marist College, achieving a 3.98 GPA, and an Associate of Science in Business Administration from Dutchess Community College with a 3.96 GPA. His education in organizational leadership and business administration reinforces a career defined by the intersection of people, operations, communication, and business performance. Outside the workplace, Michael has also devoted time to coaching youth softball, reflecting his interest in mentorship and helping others develop their capabilities and confidence.
As Michael looks toward board and advisory service, he is motivated by the opportunity to collaborate with senior executives, accomplished business leaders, and organizations confronting meaningful operational and strategic challenges. He seeks to contribute not simply as an observer, but as an experienced operator capable of asking practical questions, understanding how strategy translates into execution, and helping leadership teams identify opportunities for sustainable improvement. His decades of experience provide perspective on scaling production, strengthening organizational discipline, developing employees, managing quality, improving financial and operational performance, and navigating the realities that accompany organizational change.
Ultimately, Michael’s professional philosophy is captured by the words, “Leave it better than he found it.” The statement reflects a career devoted not merely to maintaining operations, but to strengthening the organizations and people entrusted to his leadership. Whether increasing manufacturing output, reducing turnover, improving quality, developing employees, strengthening financial performance, or coaching the next generation, Michael approaches leadership with the belief that success should leave a lasting positive impact. It is this combination of experience, technical knowledge, operational discipline, commitment to people, and results-oriented leadership that he seeks to bring to future board and advisory relationships.
Character:
Michael demonstrates character through decades of accountable leadership, military service, dedication to employee development, and an enduring commitment to leaving organizations stronger than he found them. His record reflects persistence, personal responsibility, a strong work ethic, and a belief that sustainable results should never come at the expense of people, quality, or organizational integrity.
Knowledge:
Bringing extensive knowledge developed across nearly four decades in semiconductor technology, electronics, advanced manufacturing, operations, quality, supply chain management, and organizational leadership. His combination of hands-on manufacturing experience, technical understanding, P&L responsibility, process-improvement expertise, and formal education allows him to understand both the operational details and broader business implications of complex decisions.
Strategic:
Michael approaches strategy through the practical lens of execution, connecting organizational objectives with measurable improvements in productivity, quality, cost, workforce performance, inventory, and customer satisfaction. His record of expanding output, reducing downtime, controlling inventory, strengthening teams, and improving financial performance demonstrates his ability to convert strategic priorities into disciplined operational action.
Communication:
His leadership has consistently required him to communicate across executive teams, production organizations, technical groups, suppliers, customers, cross-functional departments, and culturally diverse workforces. His background in Organizational Leadership and Communications, combined with decades of team leadership and coaching experience, enables him to translate expectations clearly, build alignment, develop people, and keep teams focused on shared objectives.
