Ward Williams new ProLabs CEO

UK-based ProLabs, an independent supplier of optical transceivers and other interconnectivity products internationally, has promoted its chief commercial officer, Ward Williams, to CEO. He replaces Nick Moglia, who will remain with the company in a strategic advisory role.

In a complementary move, Caroline Green will join ProLabs in the role of chief operating officer.

Williams had been chief commercial officer since 2014. He joined the three-year-old company from TE Connectivity, where he was vice president of global sales and marketing for the datacomm business unit. Williams will spend time in both the United States and the UK as he implements company strategy and leads ProLabs' senior management team.

Williams and Moglia have overseen a period of extensive growth for ProLabs, which has expanded from a single distributor in Europe to a global player. This growth has occurred alongside an expansion of the company's product range, which now includes a line of 100-Gbps optical transceivers. ProLabs also has added a new family of 10G SFP+ copper-based modules. The company says it will expand the copper-based portfolio with 2.5/5G SFP modules for the data center and G.fast transceivers that will interface directly into Ethernet switches later this year.

ProLabs positions itself as an alternative supplier of interface and connectivity products that are compatible with the systems from major OEMs in the telco, data center, and enterprise markets. Williams wrote a guest blog for Lightwave in 2014 that expressed the spirit of the company's positioning (see "Forget about the labels").

"I am delighted to confirm Ward in the role of CEO. He has extensive industry experience and a track record of strong leadership within ProLabs, particularly demonstrated over the past two years. We are very much looking forward to the next phase in ProLabs' development and growth," said Stewart Holness, chairman of ProLabs' Board.

Green, meanwhile, arrives at ProLabs with a background in technology and private equity. She will remain a non-executive director of the British Business Bank plc.

For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.