Leonardo Pegs CTO; Rockley Photonics Appoints Richard Meier CEO: People in the News: 12/14/22

Leonardo Electronics US appointed Steve Patterson CTO for its laser solutions business unit. The unit designs and manufactures laser diodes for defense and commercial applications. Patterson has over 20 years of experience in the laser industry, leading operations and strategic development, particularly for the U.S. defense industry.

Steve Patterson. Courtesy of Leonardo Electronics US.

OXFORD, England — Rockley Photonics appointed Richard Meier president and CEO, and as a member of the company’s board of directors. Andrew Rickman resigned as CEO and will become executive chairman. Chad Becker will assume the role of interim CFO. In addition, Caroline Brown will step down from the board of directors. The board appointed Nicholaus Henke to the audit committee to fill the vacancy, and Brian Blaser will serve as the chair of the audit committee. Rockley will begin a formal search for a permanent CFO.

NEW YORK — Nanotronics appointed Jonathan Lee chief scientific officer, effective immediately. Lee will be responsible for leading R&D, software and hardware functions, and staff, as well as the company’s approach to purpose-built AI systems. Lee previously served as vice president of research and development, having joined in 2020 from the security and privacy group of Microsoft’s MSR Redmond Lab.

DUBLIN, Calif. — Lidar technology company AEye promoted T.R. Ramachandran to COO. Ramachandran joined the company in last year as chief product officer. Additionally, CEO Blair LaCorte will resign as CEO effective Feb. 28, 2023. LaCorte will remain on the company’s board of directors. AEye has launched a search for a successor to fill the role of CEO.

T.R. Ramachandran. Courtesy of Business Wire.

GRÄFELFING, Germany — TOPTICA Projects added Armin Zach to its management board. Zach will be responsible for research and technology. Zach joined TOPTICA in 1998 and has served as head of TOPTICA’S R&D department in the field of fiber lasers and frequency comb technology. As a co-founder of TOPTICA Projects, he has overseen the company’s R&D since its spinoff in October 2016.

TAMPERE, Finland — Modulight’s executive board member Kalle Palomäki was selected as the vice chair of the enabling technologies technical advisory committee in the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C). QED-C is an industry-led organization in the U.S. established to accelerate the development of the U.S. quantum market. Modulight became the first Finnish company to join QED-C earlier this year.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Telecom company AFL appointed Jaxon Lang as COO, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Lang will oversee AFL’s operational performance worldwide. He will focus on leading the company through business transformations while managing the supply chain, commercial sales, marketing, and customer service divisions across AFL's five core markets. Lang joins AFL from FiberRise where he served as president and CEO and led the company through an acquisition with ENTRUST Solutions Group.

CAMPBELL, Calif. — Lidar technology company Velo3D appointed Brad Kreger executive vice president of operations. Kreger has held roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific and its subsidiary Affymetrix, and most recently at Fluidigm Corp. where he served as senior vice president of operations. He will have oversight of Velo3D’s various manufacturing facilities and corresponding teams.