Menlo Systems Adds General Manager; Nanotec Shuffles Management Team: People in the News: 1/24/24

Precision metrology company Menlo Systems Inc. has added Jens Schumacher as its general manager. Schumacher has more than 20 years of experience in the photonics industry, including as engineering director of Coherent Inc. and program manager of Thorlabs.

Jens Schumacher (left) and Menlo cofounder and managing director Michael Mei. Courtesy of Menlo Systems.

FELDKIRCHEN, Germany — Nanotec, a manufacturer of motors and controllers for industrial automation, has stated that CEO Stephan Huber and CTO Christian Hainzlmaier will lead the company together with CFO Elke Zec and CSO Durmus Özcan. Company founder Benno Wimmer has stepped down from his operational role. Zec has served as business controller since 2015 and was appointed to commercial manager in 2020, while Özcan has been in charge of sales and marketing for the company’s subsidiaries in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. since 2021.

(From left) Durmus Özcan, Elke Zec, Christian Hainzlmaier, and Stephan Huber. Courtesy of Nanotec.

SEATTLE — Semiconductor company NLM Photonics has added Vijay Raghavan as CFO. Raghavan has more than 30 years of experience as a finance and accounting professional working for startups and medium- and large-scale global organizations. He previously served as CFO for AGC Biologics, director of financial planning and analytics at Cray Inc., and as business manager/controller of Microsoft.

BROOKFIELD, Conn. — Photronics, Inc., a developer of photomask technologies and solutions, has appointed Eric Rivera as interim CFO upon the retirement of current CFO and executive vice president John Jordan. Rivera joined Photronics in 2016 as corporate controller and has served as chief accounting officer since 2020. His prior experience includes financial and accounting positions at IBM and Thomson Reuters. Jordan, who has been with the company since 2017, will retire on Feb. 23.

CONCORD, Calif. — Optical networking company LightRiver has appointed Jim Brinksma as senior vice president of software solutions. Brinksma has more than 20 years of experience in networking and software. His previous roles include CTO of Megaport, cofounder and CTO of InnovoEdge, vice president of strategy & business development at Ciena Blue Planet, and vice president of network products and strategy at Goldman Sachs.

LEEDS, England — Optical computing technology company Optalysys has appointed Dipesh Patel to its board. Patel most notably served in multiple executive roles at U.K. technology company Arm for 25 years, including executive vice president and CTO.

(From left) William Hicks, Gary Moore, Rosie Best, Corey Shrefler, and Kevin O’Leary. Courtesy of TiniFiber.

LINDENHURST, N.Y. — TiniFiber, a manufacturer of optical cabling solutions, has expanded its team serving the U.S. and Canada. The company added Corey Shrefler as regional manager northeast, Gary Moore as regional manager central, Kevin O’Leary as regional manager southeast, William Hicks as product manager, and Rosie Best as quality control director.