Bill Watkins, the ex-Seagate CEO who served 12 years with the hard drive maker, jumps out of the unemployment line to serve as CEO of LED lighting company Bridgelux. Not by accident, Watkins has been researching green technologies ever since cutting ties with Seagate and became fascinated with the LED sector.

"There's a $100 billion opportunity, a whole new disruptive technology with LEDs, and an installed base that owns the market but doesn't have good solutions. You don't see that very often, but that's how new technology can make an impact," Watkins said this week.

Watkins is thinking on a global scale with his new position and said he plans to help his company grow by developing its manufacturing and expanding internationally, CNet reports.

"The whole world is basically going to embrace this technology," Watkins added.

Data Robotics on Monday announced it has hired Tom Buiocchi as the company's new president and chief executive officer. Buiocchi succeeds company founder Geoff Barrall, who held the title of CEO for the past four years.

"Geoff has done a tremendous job creating an exciting, dynamic company which is approaching 100,000 units sold and is on track for continued growth. The board is very appreciative of this achievement," said Aneel Bhusri, chairman of the board for Data Robotics. "Tom's appointed as CEO marks an important milesonte for Data Robotics. His competitive nature underlies his proven track record of building successful organizations and delivering strong growth, both of which will be critical in bringing Data Robotics to the next level of success."

Buiocchi's resume includes serving as Executive in Residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures, but his last executive business role was at Brocade Communications Systems, where he served as VP of worldwide marketing, investor relations, and sales operations. Buiocchi also has some 20 years experience in a range of positions with heavyweights such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Apex Systems, and Rhapsody, Data Robotics said.

According to an anonymous source, Hector Ruiz, 63-year-old former chief executive officer of AMD, is the unnamed "AMD executive" government prosecutors allege provided information to a defendant in the Galleon insider trading case, Bloomberg reports..

Ruiz, who  stepped down as AMD's CEO last year and now serves as chairman of chip spinoff Globalfoundries, hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing in the case, nor do prosecutors say he profited from insider trading. But he is accused of discussing with Danielle Chiesi, who is alleged to be part of the Balleon insider trading ring, timing of the chip factory's spinoff in September 2008, ahead of the announcement of the deal.

"You know, we're gonna shock the hell out of everybody," the AMD executive told Chiesi, according a transcript of the September conversation included in court documents.

If the anonymous source turns out to be correct, Ruiz would be the highest ranking executive involved in the case. Other defendants in the case include IBM executive Robert Moffat and Rajiv Goel, who helped direct investments at Intel.