NAND semiconductor manufacturers started the transition to vertical integration around 2013. This was a massive inflection in the industry as legacy devices built each memory cell side-by-side in planar designs. Nowadays vertical stacking is the norm so its easy to forget the incredible pace of innovation that was required to make these first devices work.Of course at the time chip makers and equipment manufacturers realized vertical stacking was a massive risk to firmly established industry processes and standards. For example, in 2D designs the lithography design rules reigned supreme as node-to-node scaling depended upon packing memory cells ever closer. However, in 3D stacking mode the importance of layer-to-layer deposition quality and productivity got the spotlight. It was at this time my career in the industry was getting started at Lam, one of the leading deposition equipment manufacturers in the world. If we look back a couple years Lam made a smart business decision that would quickly payoff with the transition to 3D; in 2011 Lam Research acquired Novellus and it became the deposition arm of the company. Lam of course was already one of the few dry etch equipment manufacturers, and after the acquisition it was well positioned to take charge in the new world of 3D NAND. I took advantage of this opportunity to build new relationships with technical experts in both dep and etch and customize solutions for customers that simultaneously satisfy requirements from both technologies. More recently, building upon my broader view of the industry, I have focused on new films innovations to anticipate future inflection points.Throughout my career each year has had it's own "personality". Sometimes it is a "return to first principles" type of year, other times it is "turn the knob to 11 and watch the sparks fly". I am part materials scientist, part integration engineer, part chemist, and part data scientist.