AFL, Block Engineering Name Presidents: People in the News: 06/14/23

Block Engineering, a developer of broadly tunable quantum cascade lasers and chemical threat detection products, named Steve Buckley president. Buckley previously served as vice president at Ocean Insight and general manager of Ocean Applied, a division that manufactures industrial-grade photonic measurement systems using Ocean Insight’s spectrometers, light sources, and optical technology. Buckley founded several photonics companies and held faculty positions at multiple research institutions, including the University of California, San Diego.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Matthew Eichenfield will serve as associate editor of Optica Publishing Group’s journal Optica Quantum, which is expected to begin publishing in September. Eichenfield is the SPIE-endowed chair in optical sciences at the University of Arizona.

Jaxon Lang. Courtesy of AFL.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Fujikura Ltd., parent company of AFL, appointed Jaxon Lang as president and CEO of AFL, effective immediately. The appointment follows Jody Gallagher’s resignation from the position. Lang served as AFL’s COO since January 2023, having previously served as president and CEO of FiberRise. He has held positions at Commscope, TE Connectivity, and ADC Telecommunications.

GARDNER, Mass. — Precision Optics Corp., a designer and manufacturer of advanced optical instruments for the medical and defense industries, appointed Wayne Coll CFO. Coll served in CFO roles at National Dentex Corp., Micron Solutions, Flowonix Medical, Keystone Dental, Modern Dental Laboratory USA, and Pluromed. He replaces interim CFO Kevin Dahill.

CARDIFF, Wales — Semiconductor wafer and materials technology company IQE named Peter Rabbeni senior vice president of communications infrastructure and security business unit. Rabbeni will lead IQE’s expansion within the communications infrastructure, data center, aerospace, and security markets. Rabbeni joins the company from GlobalFoundries where he served in a variety of executive roles over the past decade. Most recently he was responsible for foundry sales partnerships and business development.

Bob Bicksler. Courtesy of FOCUS Investment Banking.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — FOCUS Investment Banking appointed Bob Bicksler as a senior adviser. Bicksler, who will focus primarily on the photonics industry, joins FOCUS from JML Optical Industries, which was acquired by Thorlabs in January. Bicksler served as president and CEO of JML.