Management Team & Board

Jordan Mackellar
Chief Executive Officer

Jordan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of PTSL.

His career in probecards started at age 17 through Motorola Scotland’s apprenticeship scheme. During this time, Jordan studied Electronic Engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University. Jordan transitioned to his first role at probecard manufacturer K&S in 2003. Initially employed as an Applications Engineer, he was quickly promoted to Engineering Manager for Europe.

Jordan always had a passion and burning desire to create high-value jobs that would utilise the talent in Scotland, throughout Europe, and globally. He and company co-founder Gordon Stirling met at a church breakfast in 2009 and PTSL was conceived months later. The goal was to build a probecard company where the values and ethos married with their Christian faith.

Today, Jordan is well known in the semiconductor test field, and is exceptionally proud of what the PTSL team has achieved in just over a decade. He and the team share a passion for delivering exceptional service to the customers, and if Jordan isn’t on the road visiting customers, he can be found in the R&D department relentlessly committed to the technologies that are shaping PTSL’s exciting future.

Jordan lives in Scotland with wife Laura and four kids. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with family, exercising, and is a big car enthusiast.

Don Thompson
Chief Technology Officer

Don joined PTSL in 2022 after working for over 20 years in the Automated Test Equipment industry developing advanced interfaces.

Don started his career working for Teradyne developing high-speed instrument interfaces and was part of the team that invented the revolutionary UltraFlex tester interface. After 11 years at Teradyne he moved to R&D Altanova where he became their Director of Engineering. For the next 10 years he helped grow R&D Altanova from a small load board shop to the leading producer of high-tech load boards and probe cards in the industry, where it was successfully acquired by Advantest.

Don is known around the industry for his Signal and Power Integrity expertise. He is constantly engaged in projects that help push the industry forward to support ever increasing speeds and requirements from chip manufacturers. He has won numerous awards for his presentations at conferences and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with other engineers.

Don graduated with an BSEE degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and got his MSEE from USC. Don holds 9 patents in the field of ATE interface design.

David Law
Chief Operating Officer

David joined PTSL as Chief Operating Officer in 2019, building on over 30 years of continuous service in the semiconductor industry.

Across a range of roles, David’s natural aptitude for leadership has flourished, bringing a passion for nurturing high-performing teams, as well as developing a keen focus on quality, cost, and delivery.

After joining Motorola in 1983 – initially in process engineering, but latterly in production management roles – David developed in-depth knowledge of managing teams, continuous improvement, and project management across 20 years with the company.

In 2003, David became Director of Manufacturing Services with the National Microelectronics Institute/Techworks. In this role, he advised and coordinated knowledge sharing groups across all operational disciplines within the semiconductor industry in the UK and Ireland. Subsequently, David worked for Ichor Systems as Customer Service and Operations Manager, where he managed a global workforce and the day-to-day operations of refurbishing OEM wafer fab equipment.

David holds a BA in Business and a Masters in Applied Research on Manufacturing Practices.

Away from work, David relishes taking in the Scottish countryside, particularly enjoying cycling and sailing. He is married with two grown-up children.

Kelly O’Rourke
Head of Human Resources

Kelly is the lead for human resources across PTSL (UK and international).

Kelly has developed and delivered HR strategy and services in a range of senior roles across a number of sectors, including the commercial and engineering sectors. She has implemented significant people change in organisations and delivered nationally-recognised and award-winning HR services, including in relation to apprenticeship schemes.

Kelly has significant experience across all areas of HR and people management including organisational and people development, employee relations and engagement, recruitment and performance management.

Kelly is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has a Master’s Degree in HR Management.

Away from work, Kelly’s main focus is family and friends, particularly enjoying time with her partner Paul and young son Kieran.

Derek Wilson
VP of Global Sales

In 2014, building on experience gained at some of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, Derek joined the PTSL team as Vice president for Sales for North America. In this role, Derek has leveraged his unique mix of technical, sales, and marketing expertise to drive forward revenue and performance goals for PTSL.

After gaining a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics, Derek developed industry experience at National Semiconductor, RF Micro Devices, NXP, and Phasor Solutions. Before joining PTSL, Derek won a prestigious engineering award at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London for a revolutionary design of a phased array antenna test system using high-speed digital and RF technology.

Following a number of years spent establishing the PTSL brand in North America, Derek moved to the USA in 2019, opening PTSL’s first office in North America. From this base of operations, Derek leads a highly skilled team that significantly contributes to the impressive revenue and growth performance at PTSL.

Derek lives in Florida with his wife and two kids. Away from the office, Derek enjoys the abundance of sports and outdoor lifestyle in the sunshine of Florida.

Fiona MacKinnon
Finance Director

 

Dr. Jalal Bagherli
Chairman

Dr. Jalal Bagherli spent 16 years as CEO of Dialog Semiconductor – a specialist chip company in mixed signal connectivity and power management products for mobile and IOT devices – before the sale of the company to Renesas Electronics. He has won several industry awards including the GSA awards for “Most Respected Semiconductor Company” ($1bn – $5bn), and twice for “Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company”.

Jalal currently serves as Chairman of Fortescue Future Industries’ backed Williams Advanced Engineering.

Maxime Teulon
Executive Director at Tikehau Capital

Maxime started his career at UBS Investment Bank in 2011 in Paris where he worked on large cap M&A transactions in various sectors (aerospace, defence, energy, retail). He then worked as an operational auditor for Nestlé, based in Switzerland.

In 2014, Maxime joined Safran’s mergers & acquisitions team where he conducted various projects of acquisitions, disposals and JV creations for the group worldwide.

As from 2020, Maxime was Investment Director at Safran Corporate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Safran, and participated in multiple investments in technology start-ups. Maxime was board member of several Safran Corporate Ventures portfolio companies.

Maxime joined Tikehau Capital in 2022 and currently serves as Board Member of Satys, Tecalemit and Secan.

Alexander McCann
Semiconductor Partner at Alexa Capital and President, Fortan Advisors

Mr. Alexander McCann is Board member of Probe Test Solutions Limited. Mr. McCann brings over 25 years of executive leadership, global operations, and manufacturing experience in the semiconductor industry.

Mr. McCann was previously employed as Senior VP of Global Operations at Dialog Semiconductor PLC, where he was a member of the Executive team that successfully executed the $6B acquisition by Renesas Electronics Inc in 2021. He also had a 15-year period as the Chief Operating Officer at Linear Technology Corporation, prior to the $14B trade sale to Analog Devices in 2017.

Mr McCann is currently a Semiconductor Partner at Alexa Capital and is President at Fortan Advisors, a company specialized in M&A, Capital Advisory and strategy development for the Semiconductor market.

Mark Tyndall
Board-member of PTSL and Semiconductor Partner at Alexa Capital

Mark Tyndall is a Board member of Probe Test Solutions Ltd and is currently a Semiconductor Partner at Alexa Capital.

From 2008 to 2021, Mark was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Dialog Semiconductor and a key member of the executive team, transitioning the company from a sub-100 million valuation to a recent trade sale to Renesas for 6 billion dollars. From 2006 to 2008 he was Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Relations at MIPS Technologies and prior to this he served as Vice President of Business Development at Infineon since 1999. Earlier in his career, Mark held management positions in marketing at Fujitsu Microelectronics and semiconductor design at Philips Semiconductors.

He also served on the board of multiple start-ups which were successfully acquired and holds strategic advisory positions today at companies including Indie Semiconductor, Azoteq, Energous, and Lime Microelectronics.

Jim Russell
Board Member

Jim Russell has joined the newly established board of Probe Test Solutions Ltd

Jim brings over 30 years of experience as a recognised expert and innovator in the testing of integrated circuits and successfully led the operations of R&D Altanova – a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced printed circuit boards used to test integrated circuits across a variety of end markets, including computers, mobile devices, and servers. Jim has led in building market leading, technology-driven business, through both organic and inorganic growth avenues.

Bill Miller
Global Head of Operations & Board Member

Bill brings over 30 years experience in the semiconductor industry, managing wafer fabs, supporting infrastructure, and high volume, large-scale assembly, probe and test operations. He was most recently VP Operations in Asia for NXP.

Bill has also led SMEs and mid-sized businesses in a diverse range of other industries. He started his career at Marconi Power Semiconductors, spent over 20 years with Motorola Semiconductors and, after a gap of 12 years in other businesses, 7 years with NXP.

Aidan Hughes
Board Member

Aidan Hughes joined Probe Test Solutions Limited’s Board as a Non-Executive Director in July 2024, bringing over 25 years’ global experience in a range of senior roles across a number of sectors, including significant experience within the semiconductor industry.

As Finance Director of The Sage Group, Aidan was part of the executive team driving growth in market capitalisation from £40m to £8 billion when he left at the turn of the millennium. Following this, he was a NED with Dialog for some 12 years, seeing a similar growth story,

Over the years, Aidan has been an investor and advisor for other private tech companies both in the UK and in the USA. 

Aidan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He is also a director and producer for the TV production company, Flint TV.