Credence Veteran David Ranhoff Becomes Chief Operating Officer.

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 22, 1999--

In a move to provide better focus on growing the company, Credence Systems Corporation (Nasdaq:CMOS) has restructured its senior management team.

Effective today, Dave Ranhoff, executive vice president of Credence, will become the company's first chief operating officer (COO) and continue to report to Dr. Graham Siddall, Credence president and chief executive officer (CEO).

Credence continues to gain market share by delivering the value standard in test by providing its customers with the lowest cost of test. With the creation of the COO position, the company moves to a more classic corporate management team with a CEO (Siddall), a COO (Ranhoff) and CFO, Dennis Wolf. Leveraging and extending the success achieved by Ranhoff and Wolf, this new structure allows Siddall to focus on strategies to grow the company and strengthen its reputation as the most innovative, value-based test supplier.

"As co-presidents, Dave Ranhoff and Dennis Wolf did an exceptional job of refocusing Credence and quickly returning the company to profitability," said Siddall. "Now, our number one corporate goal is to become the number two supplier of non-DRAM ATE. We will achieve this goal by growing the company through both internal product development and relevant acquisitions. Our new management structure will help keep the three of us focused on leading Credence to the next level."

Ranhoff remains responsible for Credence's three strategic business units, engineering, marketing, and field operations. As COO, Ranhoff also assumes responsibility for the company's manufacturing operations. Reporting directly to Siddall, Dennis Wolf will continue to direct finance, administration, legal, human resources and the information technology (IT) group in his role as executive vice president and CFO.

"As COO, I'm looking forward to managing the daily operations of Credence," Ranhoff said. "During my tenure here, we have developed Credence into a customer-driven powerhouse. Credence does not just sell test equipment: It creates meaningful partnerships with customers. With Graham and Dennis, this team is ready to take Credence to the next level."

"This new structure gives me the opportunity to focus on the investment community and to also explore growth through acquisitions, while ensuring that Credence effectively manages its balance sheet," Wolf said. "Our current financial success is a testament to the effective leadership at Credence."

Ranhoff served as co-president of Credence Systems Corporation from December 1998 through September of this year. Prior to that post, Ranhoff held a series of management positions within Credence including executive vice president, senior vice president of sales and service and managing director of European operations. Prior to joining Credence in 1986, he held a variety of positions at GenRad and Axiom Technology. He currently serves on the boards of Elmos Semiconductor AG, Fluence Technology and ICC, a joint venture company in Japan.

About Credence

Credence Systems Corporation is a leader in the manufacture of automatic test equipment (ATE) for the global semiconductor industry. Credence offers a wide range of products with test capabilities for digital, mixed-signal, and memory semiconductors. Utilizing its patented CMOS technologies, Credence products are designed to meet the strict time-to-market and cost-of-ownership requirements of its customers.

Headquartered in Fremont, Calif., the company maintains advanced production and design facilities in Hillsboro, Ore. Credence, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer, is listed on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol CMOS. More information is available at http://www.credence.com.

Note to Editors: Credence and Credence Systems are trademarks of Credence Systems Corporation. Other trademarks that may be mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.