Ayar Labs Appoints Chief Strategy Officer: People In the News: 10/15/25

Photonics.com
Oct 2025VELDHOVEN, Netherlands, Oct. 15, 2025 — ASML appointed Marco Pieters as executive vice president and CTO. Pieters has more than 25 years of experience at ASML, most recently serving as executive vice president for the product area applications. ASML’s supervisory board announced that it intends to appoint Pieters to the board of management as of the company’s next annual general meeting in April. Pieters will be the sixth member of the board. The supervisory board also intends to reappoint executive vice president and CFO Roger Dassen for a four-year term, and executive vice president and COO Frédéric Schneider-Maunoury for a term of two years.

Vivek Gupta. Courtesy of Ayar Labs.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ayar Labs appointed Vivek Gupta chief strategy officer. Gupta will oversee Ayar Labs’ global strategy, customer engagement, and product functions for market adoption of optical I/O. Gupta has experience leading business strategy, commercialization, and product innovation at companies including Google, Qualcomm, and Atheros. This news follows the announcement of a collaboration with semiconductor company Alchip early last month.

TUSCON, Ariz. — Applied Energetics, a directed energy solutions company, appointed David Spence chief product officer. Spence has more than 25 years of experience in the conception, design, and commercialization of laser technologies across industrial, scientific, and defense markets. Spence previously held leadership roles at Spectra-Physics, Newport Corporation, and MKS Instruments, where he directed cross-functional teams developing next-generation ultrashort pulse laser systems, nonlinear optical solutions, and diode-pumped solid-state amplifiers. He is an Optica Fellow, holds over a dozen issued patents, and has authored numerous scientific publications.

CORNING, N.Y. — Corning appointed Ami Badani, its chief marketing officer, to the company’s board of directors as the 10th member. Badani will hold office until Corning’s annual meeting of shareholders in the spring of 2026, at which time she will stand for election to a one-year term. She previously was vice president of products and developer marketing at NVIDIA, where she scaled the company’s data center portfolio. Badani's prior companies include Cumulus Networks, Instart Logic, and Cisco Systems.

BRISTOL, England — Zero Point Motion, a silicon photonics sensor technology start-up, named Pascal Langlois chair. Langlois has previous executive leadership in the semiconductors, sensors, and silicon photonics industries, and he is currently co-founder and chairman of the board at Scintil Photonics and chairman of the supervisory board at Teem Photonics. Previously serving as CEO and president of Tronics Microsystems, Langlois gained experience by taking his company to initial public offering on the Euronext stock exchange and later secured a trade sale to TDK Group. He also held senior executive roles at ST-Ericsson, NXP, Philips Semiconductors, and VLSI Technology, where he scaled solutions to high-volume production for leading global OEMs. Zero Point Motion's current chair, Gordon Aspin, will serve as non-executive director.

ORLANDO, Fla. — LightPath Technologies, an optics and imaging company, appointed Mark Caylor to the company’s board of directors. Caylor has over 35 years of experience in the defense sector, and recently retired as president of Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems Sector, a supplier of advanced sensing, processing, and communications technologies for defense and intelligence customers. He previously served as president, enterprise services and chief strategy officer, where he led Northrop Grumman's shared services, corporate strategy, and mergers and acquisitions.

Catlan McCurdy. Courtesy of Bridger Labs.

Catlan McCurdy. Courtesy of Bridger Photonics.

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Bridger Photonics, a methane emissions data company, appointed Catlan McCurdy chief legal officer. McCurdy has been an advisor to Bridger for years as external counsel. Among other functions, she will ensure compliance across jurisdictions, manage risk, and protect Bridger’s intellectual property portfolio.

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