Coherent Names Deputy CTO, Appoints VP: People in the News: 07/12/23

Coherent Corp. named Young-Kai Chen deputy chief technology officer, and appointed Paul Silverstein vice president for investor relations and corporate communications. Chen previously served as chief scientist in Coherent’s New Ventures and Wide-Bandgap Electronics Technologies group and, before joining Coherent in 2021, as a program manager at DARPA. Chen previously served as senior director at Nokia Bell Labs where he worked on high-speed electronics and optoelectronics, including integrated lasers, silicon photonics, coherent optical data links, and wireless backhaul transceivers. Silverstein joins Coherent with over 25 years of experience in investor relations and corporate finance as a senior analyst. Most recently, he spent the past 10 years as a managing director and senior analyst at Cowen Inc. He was a senior analyst at Credit Suisse, Needham & Company, and Robertson Stephens.

Young-Kai Chen, deputy chief technology officer at Coherent. Courtesy of Coherent.

BARRINGTON, N.J. — Optical components supplier Edmund Optics named Alexis Liagre sales director EMEA. Liagre succeeds Helge Vogt, who remains managing director of Edmund Optics Germany.

Alexis Liagre (left), sales director EMEA, with Helge Vogt, managing director of Edmund Optics Germany. Courtesy of Edmund Optics.

GOLETA, Calif. — Sensor technology company Aeluma named Matthew Dummer director of technology. Dummer most recently served as senior staff scientist for ams-OSRAM, a provider of optical solutions for sensing, illumination, and visualization. He was previously principal scientist at Vixar Inc., a manufacturer of sensor products for consumer, industrial, and biomedical markets.

BOLTON, Mass. — Headwall Photonics promoted Will Rock to product manager of machine vision, and appointed Michelle deCastro to business development manager of optical components and assemblies. DeCastro previously worked at IRD Glass, Ocean Optics, and Schott North America.

FARMINGTON, Conn. — TRUMPF named Christopher Wargo product manager for stand-alone TruBend machines at TRUMPF’s North American headquarters. Wargo takes over responsibility for the stand-alone TruBend machines from Roger Michaud, who will focus exclusively on TRUMPF’s line of TruPunch and combination punch-laser products. Franziska Maschowski, as TRUMPF Inc. head of smart factory applications and bend automation, will continue to manage TRUMPF’s automated bending cell product line and be responsible for the TruBend Cell products.

Christopher Wargo. Courtesy of TRUMPF.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Laser Photonics Corp. promoted Seth Bush from marketing manager to marketing director, and promoted Bradley Runkel from sales engineer to vice president of its service partner network.

ROANOKE, Va. — Luna Innovations, a developer of fiber optic-based technology, named Thomas Oldemeyer senior vice president and managing director of EMEA. Oldemeyer spent nearly 12 years as CEO of LIOS Technology before transitioning to its parent company, NKT Photonics.

SEOUL, South Korea — Park Systems, a provider of atomic force microscopy and nanometrology solutions, named Stefan Schneider general manager of Park’s Accurion Division, a provider of imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry and active vibration isolation systems. Schneider has more than 11 years of experience at Accurion in R&D and product development.

Stefan Schneider, general manager of Park Systems GmbH Accurion Division. Courtesy of Park Systems.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Optical communication technology company Celestial AI appointed Bethany Mayer to the company’s board of directors. Mayer currently serves as chair of the board at Box Inc., and also serves as an independent board member at Sempra Energy, Lam Research, and Ambri. She is an executive adviser with Siris Capital Group LLC. She previously served on the boards of Marvel Technology and Pulse Secure.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Optica added Pouya Dianat to its corporate engagement team as director of photonic integrated circuits and quantum technologies. Dianat has been an entrepreneur in residence at Drexel University, working with smart technology startups. He previously served as senior photonics engineer at Luminar Technologies.