European Southern Observatory Appoints Director General: People In the News: 10/29/25
Voyant Photonics, a company that specializes in on-chip frequency modulated continuous wave lidar (FMCW), appointed Clément Nouvel CEO. Nouvel joins during the company’s transition from development to large-scale commercialization of its silicon photonics-based sensing technology, which enables machines to autonomously perceive and understand their environments with millimeter precision. Nouvel has nearly a decade of experience from automotive technology company Valeo, where he led multiple initiatives from business development through R&D and production.
Andreas Kaufer in front of the Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Courtesy of The European Southern Observatory.
MUNICH, Germany — The European Southern Observatory (ESO) appointed Andreas Kaufer as its director general. Currently ESO's director of operations, Kaufer will succeed Xavier Barcons, who will remain as as director general until the end of August 2026. Kaufer will lead the completion of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope and help search for its next ground-based program. Kaufer joined ESO in 1999, first contributing to the startup of operations of the newly built Very Large Telescope. He became director of the La Silla Paranal Observatory in 2006 and has been director of operations at ESO since 2008, a role in which he is responsible for the end-to-end operations of the ESO observatories in Chile and the European segment of the ALMA operation.
DURHAM, N.C. — Wolfspeed appointed Matthias Buchner senior vice president of global sales and chief marketing officer. Buchner will report directly to CEO Robert Feurle. Buchner joins Wolfspeed from Infineon Technologies AG, where he most recently served as senior vice president of marketing for the power and sensor systems division, responsible for strategic communication, partnership management, distribution marketing, digital marketing, and marketing operations. Over his more than 20-year career, he has held senior leadership positions at Infineon, Micron Technology, and other technology companies.
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