Applied Materials, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has elected Willem P. Roelandts as chairman effective immediately. Roelandts succeeds Michael R. Splinter, who has retired from the board.   Roelandts is currently Applied Materials’ lead independent director and has served on the board since 2004. He was president and CEO of Xilinx, a supplier of programmable logic solutions, from 1996 to 2008 and chairman of the board of directors of Xilinx from 2003 to 2009. Prior to joining Xili...