3M has named Frank R. Little executive director of corporate technology research and development as well as the company's Electro & Communications Markets Center. Little was most recently vice president and general manager for the Corning Compensation Products Division. Before that, he worked at ADC, Antec, and Scientific Atlanta.
Alexander R. McCann has been appointed vice president of manufacturing and operations at NanoOpto, which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and produce optical-networking components. McCann will be responsible for the company's Somerset, NJ, manufacturing facility and operations, which is now ramping up "to deliver optical components in high volume," says NanoOpto president and CEO Barry Weinbaum. McCann has more than 18 years' experience in semiconductor operations, including vice president of manufacturing at Anadigics, where he was responsible for bringing online a 150-mm analog GaAs wafer fabrication facility. He also held several manufacturing management roles and contributed to yield and cycle time improvement at National Semiconductor.
A 30-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, George Chase has rejoined optical transport and photonics equipment vendor Fujitsu Network Communications as group president and chief operating officer. In this newly created position, Chase will be responsible for the company's operations, engineering, development, product planning, marketing, and sales. He was previously the company's executive vice president of sales and marketing before leaving to join a venture capital firm, where he led many investments in optical communications startup companies. Before that, Chase spent 16 years at AT&T Network Systems (now Lucent Technologies), and he held several positions in product management, product development, and sales at Rockwell Network Systems (prior to its acquisition by Alcatel) and was later appointed vice president of sales. "I am delighted that George has returned to the Fujitsu fold," says Tokanobu Yoden, president and CEO of Fujitsu Network Communications. "During his [previous] tenure at Fujitsu, the company grew its sales revenue from $200 million to over $2 billion in SONET equipment."
Palomar Technologies has appointed Wai Seng Chew director of the company's Asian office, responsible for business in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia. Based in Palomar's Singapore facility, Chew will direct the sales, service, and spare-parts support for wire bonding, die attach, ball bumping, flip chip, and optoelectronic and microwave package assembly equipment as well as provide process development and prototyping services. With more than 15 years in the electronics industry, Chew's resume includes general manager/Asia at Vision Inspection Technology and sales manager at BTU's Asian sales and support offices. "With the Asian business climate as strong as it is," explains Palomar sales vice president Jeffrey King, Palomar Asia will be assisted by applications managers from the United States along with experienced local service engineers deployed in key Asian countries.
Former sales vice president at Williams Communications, Paul Aiello has been named vice president of sales and marketing at wholesale broadband services provider Progress Telecom. While at Williams, Aiello also served as general manager, vice president of national accounts/outsourcing, and vice president of strategic and government accounts. Before that, he held management positions at Intecom, RCA Telephone Systems; HCI Technologies, and NEC Telephones.
Planar component integrator NeoPhotonics has appointed Ken Westrick, former president and chief executive of New Focus, to its board of directors. "Ken's skills and experiences in building an early-stage optical company into a very significant business are invaluable," says NeoPhotonics president and chief executive Tim Jenks. "Ken is already playing a very active role in the company, assisting with our sales, product, and manufacturing strategies in particular." During Westrick's tenure at New Focus, the company grew from development stage to rapidly scaled production, achieved revenues of more than $40 million per quarter, and raised nearly $600 million in initial and secondary public offerings. Before that, Westrick spent nearly a decade at Cornerstone Imaging, where he was senior vice president and general manager of the display division and managing director of Europe. He also serves on the board of directors at Proxim.