Morphotonics Appoints CEO: People in the News: 10/9/24

Nanoimprint technology developer Morphotonics appointed Hugo da Silva as CEO. Da Silva has over 20 years of experience in advanced materials, manufacturing, and commercialization. He most recently served as vice president of strategy and corporate development at Stratasys.

Hugo da Silva. Courtesy of Morphotonics.

ENSCHEDE, Netherlands — Photonic chiptech foundry New Origin named Twan Korthorst as CEO. Korthorst, who has more than 25 years of experience in integrated photonics, microfluidics, and MEMS, most recently served as executive director of photonic solutions at Synopsys.

Costas Fountas. Courtesy of CERN.

GENEVA — The CERN council elected Costas Fountas as its 25th President, for a period of a year, effective Jan. 1, 2025. Fountas will take over from Eliezer Rabinovici. Fountas is professor of physics and heads the high-energy physics group at the University of Ioannina (Greece). He was appointed Greek scientific delegate to the CERN Council in 2016 and became vice president of the council in 2022.

Joe Fox. Courtesy of Beckman Coulter Life Sciences.

INDIANAPOLIS — Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, a laboratory automation company and developer of flow cytometry systems, appointed Joe Fox president. Fox joins Beckman Coulter Life Sciences from SCIEX, where he served most recently as president. Prior to joining SCIEX, Fox held both technical and commercial roles with Bruker and Shimadzu.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Iridex Corporation, a provider of laser-based medical systems, appointed Patrick Mercer to the role of CEO. David Bruce, the company’s prior CEO, is transitioning from the company, and Scott Shuda was appointed executive chairman of the company’s board of directors. Mercer previously served as Iridex’s COO and will retain the position of president.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intevac, Inc., a supplier of thin-film processing systems, appointed Kevin Barber as the company’s board chairman, succeeding David S. Dury, who has served as board chairman since 2017 and will remain on the board until the annual meeting of stockholders in 2025. Barber joined the board of directors in 2018 with previous experience as senior vice president and general manager of Synaptics’ mobile division.

Colin Pearce. Courtesy of Active Silicon.

LANGLEY, England — Colin Pearce, a founder of embedded vision systems manufacturer Active Silicon, is set to retire from the company. Pearce headed Active Silicon with co-founder Chris Beynon since 1988 and has been in an advisory role at the company since its acquisition by Solid State plc in 2021.

PENANG, Malaysia — ESCATEC, a provider of electronics manufacturing services including MEMS, named Christoph Antener chief procurement officer. Antener has held previous senior management roles, most recently as CPO of KATEK Group.

STOCKHOLM — Machine perception and infrared touch company Neonode appointed Peter Kruk to the board of directors as a class II director. Kruk currently serves as the CEO and is a board member of NCAB Group AB, a producer of printed circuit boards, with previous experience as president of the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region at Dometic Group and as president of electronics at Stoneridge Inc.