From Trailer Park to First Female CEO of a Semiconductor Company: A Conversation with Christine King

“I don’t like being bored.”

That was one of the first things Christine King said to me during our recent chat. 

Take a quick gander at her resume and you’ll see it’s true. This powerhouse of a woman hasn’t stopped since 1973 – and that’s just the way she likes it. 

Before her breakthrough role as the first female CEO at AMI Semiconductor, Christine spent over 25 years at the venerated IBM, eventually becoming the VP of Semiconductor Solutions. How could you be bored when you own P&L for a $6 billion business unit with 12,000 people to manage?

As it turns out, that wasn’t quite enough. Christine wanted to try her hand in the captain’s chair, and did so in a spectacular way. After taking the helm at AMI, she made a series of shrewd business moves that resulted in significant growth, leading to a nearly $1 billion acquisition by ON Semiconductor in 2008. 

That was followed by another CEO gig at Standard Microsystems and an executive chairmanship at QLogic (now part of Marvell). 

Since then, she’s been filling her dance card with numerous board duties, restlessly searching for the next big challenge. That came in 2017, when she accepted her first software leadership role as Co-Chairman at Henry Schein, a dental practice management platform. A bit out of her comfort zone, sure, but status quo for a trailblazer. 

Without question, these gigs established Christine as a preeminent CEO across the hardware and software fields. And within the tight cabal of the semiconductor industry, she’s the cream of the crop – what you might call “tech royalty.”

But being bored also sent Christine to the farm. 

And I mean that literally: she became a dairy farmer.

“I have to say that dairy farming is way harder than being a CEO,” she exclaimed delightedly. “The results are in the milk pail. You get measured every day for whatever you do, whether it's strategy or execution. It just makes you honest all day long.”

And so Christine milked cows every morning for 12 years, taking up the chore before logging in at Big Blue. As she noted, it was a great learning experience, balancing out the intense rigors of being a technology leader.

At CMS Critic, our core focus is on content management. But I’ve spent my career in tech, consulting with IBM, Microsoft, Verizon, and even semiconductor companies like Micross (I'm deficient in dairy farming, but hay, the day is young).

When Christine’s team approached me for an interview, I jumped at the opportunity. She’s now a content creator, promoting her new book, Breaking Through The Silicon Ceiling – which is due out June 28th. We talked about it at length (the video is below) and what convinced her to tell this story.  

I thought this would be a fascinating complement to what we typically cover, but it's also downright inspiring. We can all do more to support the advancement of women in tech, and Christine is the template. The shining example of what’s possible. For me, sharing her story is part of the charter.    

In her forthcoming tome, Christine chronicles her incredible journey. Like something out of a movie, she details how a 20-year-old single mom in the early 1970s climbed a shifting ladder out of a trailer park – and into an intimidating, male-dominated world of technology.

Along with the plight of being a solo parent at a time when social stigmas were far more severe, the story is filled with unexpected twists and turns that will have your heart cheering. 

Throughout the book, Christine relays the lessons learned from a life spent fighting through emotional turmoil, eventually finding respect and equality as an engineer turned business leader. 

Her big message: the seeds of success are within you. And she’s evidence of that. 

Breaking through the silicon ceiling

To suggest that Christine’s story has a humble beginning would be to sell it short. As you’ll hear in our interview, she overcame significant obstacles before rising into her role as a chief executive of a semiconductor company.

As she detailed the genesis, I was struck by how large the mountain must have loomed. And yet, despite her many challenges, she dared to climb. 

“I didn't have any money, and I didn't have an education,” she remarked. “I had a high school [diploma], but that was it. And so my journey began in that trailer park, then going to college first, of course, to be a teacher – which is what women did in those days. Then I [went] into electrical engineering and got my degree, and that led me to my first job at IBM. And then I spent 40 years pretty much being the only female in the room.”

Even with the odds stacked against her, Christine persevered and thrived in dual roles as a technologist and a business leader. In the interview, we talk about how much she enjoys both sides of the ledger and how she unlocks the value of people – without whom there would be no business. 

I asked Christine what motivated her to become an author and turn her life's story into a book. 

“I really felt that I learned so many lessons along the way, including those I learned in dairy farming,” she said. “You don't necessarily have to have an Ivy League education, or privilege or connections. You can be successful at what you do, even if it's being the first female CEO of a semiconductor company. I wanted to share that story and those lessons.”

The book explores the myriad of setbacks along Christine’s path to the CEO’s seat. In her own words, she frames the adversity as “getting kicked in the gut quite a few times,” but she hung on – and wants everyone to know there's a way to get it done.

In our conversation, we also delve into the many challenges faced by women like herself, and what it took to scale the walled garden around high-level leadership roles – and how there’s still work to be done. 

“There was certainly a ‘boys club,’ if you will,” Christine explained. “Although there were opportunities, it got harder and harder as you went up the ladder. And I would say even in the 2000s, when I started participating in public boards, it was quite a while [before] women were even part of the community and becoming directors. It certainly has been a journey, but sometimes, it's still a rough road. So I think we still have a ways to go.”

Why it matters

I won’t wax philosophically here. Instead, I’ll urge you to watch the interview and hear this amazing woman talk about her journey. It’s less than 30 minutes, but the story is a lifetime of gold. 

I usually draw big conclusions at this point in the prose, but Christine really nails it in our interview. She could easily retire from the whole shootin’ match, but she stays in the game because her passion is immeasurable. Henry Schein is now her fourth leadership rodeo; maybe she's still getting warmed up?

Never one to rest, Christine has now put pen to paper and written a book, intimately sharing the struggles of growing up poor and battling limiting beliefs – all with the intention of helping others. As a technologist and business leader, she is unrivaled. As a messenger, she is revelatory. And as a human, she is the motherlode of potential and possibility. And yes, she is an iconic female CEO, but above all, she's an amazing person. 

One more note: in our conversation, I shared some of the incredible work being done by the MACH Alliance – the industry organization advocating for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems – and its fervent commitment to DEI. For several years, they have championed what it calls the Women in MACH movement, elevating awareness and promoting women in tech and STEM fields. 

Despite the progress we’ve made, the gaps persist. As I told Christine, we saw a lack of female representation on stage at last year’s MACH Two event in Amsterdam. Given the clear efforts made to celebrate and promote diversity, this was disappointing – and a reminder that tech is still very much an industry dominated by men.

Should we be surprised? We have pundits and talking heads who continue to challenge equitable pay for women (just one dimension of the inequity). On average, they still earn 16% less than their male counterparts. In recent weeks, we saw the dichotomy of Caitlin Clark, the college basketball phenom who single-handedly generated millions of dollars for the state of Idaho, but is being paid a salary of $76,000 to play in the WNBA – far less than star rookies in the NBA.

We’re making progress, yes. But as my guest observed, we still have more work to do. 

Christine’s book, Breaking Through The Silicon Ceiling, will be released on June 28th, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon.

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