Meet the Team John Reid, CEO has extensive knowledge of the optoelectronics industry having worked in the areas of R&D, marketing and management. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Physics from Heriot Watt University in 1987, Scotland after which he joined Philips Research where he carried out research into new laser sources for optical recording and high speed data transmission. He subsequently joined Philips optoelectronics and led an international team incorporating national telecom operators, a number of international companies and universities tasked with demonstrating the feasibility of all-optical long-haul high-speed links in the national networks of Germany, Spain and Portugal. Prior to co-founding Cedova he was with JDS Uniphase where he was responsible for the product portfolio for telecommunication laser sources. He has also worked as an independent industry consultant in business development and evaluation. Peter Thijs, VP & CTO has over 30 years experience in the optoelectronics industry in management and R&D. He holds a Ph.D. in electronic engineering from the University of Delft and an M.Sc. in chemical technology from the University of Eindhoven. He started his career at Philips Research in 1975 on AlGaAs/GaAs semiconductor lasers and materials. From 1985 to 1995 he held the position of senior scientist at Philips Research where he setup the laboratory and equipment for metal organic vapour phase epitaxy for InP-based telecommunication lasers. He pioneered the application of quantum wells and strained-layer quantum wells in InP-based optoelectronic devices. He joined Philips optoelectronics where his focus was the management of process and product development for telecommunication source lasers, visible and near-infrared lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, photodetectors and optoelectronic packaging. He joined JDS Uniphase where he was responsible for overall product and package development of source lasers including reliability and failure analysis. He has authored and co-authored over 125 refereed articles in journals and conference proceeding. In 1998 he was the recipient of the IRPM award for his work on InP-based strained-layer lasers. Peter Knapen, VP Technology has a degree in chemistry and more than 20 years experience in high tech environments, for a major part in process development, process engineering and production and has recently been working as a technology consultant. Working with JDS Uniphase from 1998 - 2003 he was process manager for thin film and epitaxy. Prior to this he held several positions at Philips Electronics in the engineering and production of mainstream IC manufacturing and magnetic recording heads. His fields of expertise are thin film and plasma technology, materials science, yield engineering, process development and engineering management. Kees Jan Niemantsverdriet, VP Process Development has a degree in chemistry and over 20 years of experience in semiconductor research, development and production. He worked at the Philips Research Laboratories and Philips Components as a CMOS process development engineer, on product and process yield improvement programs. Subsequently from 1990 to 1998, he held several positions at Philips where he gained expertise in product and process development. He worked at Philips Components on thin-film magnetic heads, first as a section-head of the lithography group and later on as a product development engineer, responsible for test & measurement and data-analysis methodologies. He was engineering manager at JDS Uniphase. In this role he headed the lithography and etch department (2000-2004) and prior to this the assembly and test & measurement department (1998–2000). Leading several industrialisation and process improvements projects, he realised substantial yield enhancements in both departments. Thierry de Smet, VP Epitaxy started working for the optoelectronics department of Philips in 1997 focusing on product and process development in the area of MOCVD. Together with the R&D department he was instrumental in the development of enhanced processes for . amongst other products photodiodes and edge emitting lasers. Later with JDS Uniphase he was responsible for new production tools and implementing yield-engineering projects. He then took over as Epitaxy Manager in which he led the engineering team and held the overall responsibility for the quality of the existing MOCVD equipment and processes, introducing new technologies and processes in the MOCVD area of the company. Prior to co-founding Cedova he worked with Philips as a product development engineer starting up a new line for the production of flat panel X-ray sensors.