PowerPhotonic Names CEO for Its US Venture: People in the News: 02/23/22

The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) appointed Ulrike Helfferich COO to supervise daily business operations, lead key initiatives, and implement organization-wide strategies. Helfferich has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of sales and business development, with a wide knowledge of the optics, photonics, semiconductor, and machine-building markets.

Ulrike Helfferich. Courtesy of EPIC.

MUNICH — Imaging components supplier FRAMOS appointed Daniel Otto chief revenue officer. Since the start of February, Otto has served as the worldwide head of sales and marketing and as part of the management team. Otto has held management positions in sales and technical support at companies including IDS, Cognex, and Rockwell Automation.

FRAMOS CEO Andreas Franz (left) shakes hands with Daniel Otto. Courtesy of FRAMOS.

ALKMAAR, Netherlands — PhotonFirst appointed Nick Singh CTO. Singh succeeds founder and CTO Pim Kat.

BERLIN — TOPTICA eagleyard named Sascha Tornow its head of quality. Tornow worked for TOPTICA eagleyard from 2006 to 2011 as quality manager, with a special focus on the ESA’s Gaia mission. He has also worked as manager of quality of assurance for medical technology company MELAG Medizintechnik, and as an independent consultant for TOPTICA.

DALGETY BAY, Scotland — Micro-optics manufacturer PowerPhotonic appointed Mark McElhinney CEO of PowerPhotonic Inc., a U.S.-based subsidiary. McElhinney will establish engineering and manufacturing operations that will directly serve the North American defense market. McElhinney served as president of Lasertel from 2004 to 2020, during which time it was acquired by Leonardo Electronics.

MUNICH — Rutger Wijburg will join the board of Infineon Technologies as COO, succeeding Jochen Hanebeck, who will take over from Reinhard Ploss as CEO. Wijburg previously served as managing director of Infineon Dresden, and as head of Frontend since the beginning of 2021. He has more than 30 years of international experience in the semiconductor industry.

Rutger Wijburg. Courtesy of Infineon Technologies.

AUSTIN, Texas — Laser fusion startup Focus Energy added William Goldstein to an external board member position. Most recently Goldstein was director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.