People in the News: 09/22/21

DETROIT — Baraja, creator of Spectrum-Scan lidar technology for autonomous vehicles, appointed Yannick Lize vice president of research and development, and Pieter Kerstens as vice president of engineering. Lize and Kerstens bring decades of experience in silicon photonics and high-tech engineering, respectively, at companies including Intel, Velodyne, and JDSU.

CHICAGO — Augmedics, an augmented reality surgical image guidance company, appointed Raj Asarpota executive vice president and CFO. Asarpota will lead Augmedic’s global finance organization and will be responsible for accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, and investor relations. Asarpota previously served at ApiJect as executive vice president, CFO, and head of technology.

Thorne Lietz has joined InnoLas Solutions’ electronics team as senior sales manager. Lietz brings experience in machine sales for electronics manufacturing. Courtesy of InnoLas Solutions.

KRAILLING, Germany — Thorne Lietz joined InnoLas Solutions’ electronics team as senior sales manager. Lietz has worked in a variety of roles at LPKF Laser and Electronics for 25 years. He began in 1996 as a service engineer before taking on various asks in the sales department 10 years later, ultimately becoming senior sales manager and key account manager automotive in the area of machine sales for electronics manufacturing.

GLASGOW, Scotland — Adam Carter joined Vector Photonics as business development director for North America, based in Silicon Valley. Carter most recently served as chief commercial officer at Foxcon Optical Interconnects. He has held roles at Cisco, Avago Technologies, Oclaro, Agilent Technologies, and Hewlett Packard.

STOCKHOLM — Sivers Photonics has named Håkan Rippe as CFO. Rippe has spent 27 years in both private equity-owned and listed technology companies. Previously Rippe held the role of CFO at Enea and Clavister, as well as senior positions at IBM and Telelogic. Additionally, Susan Shea was appointed as vice president of business development, North America. She has more than 25 years of experience, most recently at Lumentum. Shea is Sivers Photonics’ first U.S. employee.

HAIFA, Israel — Elbit Systems appointed Joseph Gaspar senior executive vice president, business management. Gaspar has spent 20 years as CFO and has held various managerial positions in Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries. Kobi Kagan, currently serving as deputy general manager and senior vice president, will replace Gaspar as executive vice president and CFO.

iPronics Programmable Photonics named Ana Gonzalez director of strategic partnerships. The company develops concepts for general-purpose integrated programmable photonic solutions. Courtesy of iPronics Programmable Photonics.

VALENCIA, Spain — Ana Gonzalez joined iPronics Programmable Photonics as director of strategic partnerships. Gonzalez has more than 15 years of experience in photonic integration, strategy, operations, and sales. She previously served research and development manager for the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC). She holds a Ph.D. from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

MONHEIM AM RHEIN, Germany — Resolve Biosciences appointed Erik Wiberg CFO. Wiberg previously served as CFO at REVA Medical, a provider of bioresorbable polymer technologies for vascular applications. Wiberg also served as CFO and vice president of administration at Gyros Protein Technologies, as well as senior finance leadership roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific, AlliedSignal, and the Chamberlain Group.

DUBLIN, Calif. — AEye, a provider of adaptive, high-performance lidar, elected its board of directors. Board members are Carol DiBattiste, Timothy J. Dunn, Bernd Gottschalk, Karl-Thomas Neumann, company executives Blair LaCorte, CEO, and Luis Dussan, founder and CTO, and Wen Hsieh of Kleiner Perkins. DiBattiste serves as chair of the board, Dunn as chair of the audit committee, Gottschalk as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee, and Neumann as chair of the compensation committee.

CAMPBELL, Calif. — In preparation for becoming a public company, Velo3D has hired a vice president of investor relations and has expanded its North American sales team. Bob Okunski was appointed vice president of investor relations. He has held investor relations positions at PeopleSoft, WebVan, Spansion, and SunPower Corp. Velo3D also appointed Steve Starner vice president of sales for North America. He previously served at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

BluGlass Limited, a developer of GaN laser solutions for the industrial, defense, display, and scientific markets, appointed James Haden president. Courtesy of BluGlass.

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — BluGlass Limited appointed James Haden president. Haden has 30 years of experience in the laser industry. He has held senior executive and advisory roles at companies including Kyocera SLD, nLight, Coherent, and JDS Uniphase.