After the tragic death of Steve Appleton, Micron’s CEO and chairman, the company was quick to name Marc Durcan, Micron’s president and COO, as temporary CEO.
Appleton died when the small plane he piloted crashed in an airport in Boise, Idaho where he was based.  The late CEO was known for performing stunts in airshows.  Appleton was also a former motocross racer.

As for Durcan, Micron announced last week that he would be retiring come August, but with Appleton’s untimely demise, Durcan was proclaimed temporary CEO and now the position is officially his.

Durcan was groomed for the position.  In 1984, he joined the company as chief technology officer and in 1997 became the company’s chief operating officer.  Though Appleton was CEo, he was more focused on formulating strategies while Durcan took on the role of running the company day-to-day.

“We are fortunate to be able to appoint someone with Mark’s operations and technical leadership experience to serve as the company’s CEO,” said Robert Switz, Micron’s new chairman of the board. “Mark has been instrumental in Micron’s success in his role as President and COO and has garnered the respect of the company, his team members and the industry at large.”

Micron is known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices such as DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips.  Micron and Intel created IM Flash Technologies designing and producing NAND flash memory.

The loss of Appleton could greatly impact the company as it has been struggling with sales for a few years now.

On Friday, February 10th, Micron will host an analyst conference.  Top executives from the company, including the newly appointed CEO will be present.  The company will present strategies and provide an update on current market conditions.  Presentations will start at 7 a.m. MT and a webcast, featuring live audio and slides, of the analyst conference can be found here.