28 March 2018

POET appoints Charbonneau to board

© Semiconductor Today Magazine / Juno PublishiPicture: Disco’s DAL7440 KABRA laser saw.

POET Technologies Inc of Toronto, Canada and San Jose, CA, USA — a designer and manufacturer of optoelectronic devices, including light sources, passive waveguides and photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for the sensing and datacom markets — has appointed Peter Charbonneau to its board of directors, as well as to the board’s audit committee.

Charbonneau was a general partner at Skypoint Capital Corp for almost 15 years, where he was jointly responsible for the placement of $100m of capital in early-stage telecoms and datacoms companies. Prior to Skypoint, he held executive and operational roles at networking companies including March Networks and Newbridge Networks, where he was president and chief operating officer. In 2000, representing Sir Terence Matthews, he facilitated the purchase of the communications business systems division of Mitel Corp, which has since operated as Mitel Networks.

“Peter is an excellent addition to POET’s board with his unique combination of experience in venture capital and networking infrastructure,” comments executive chairman David Lazovsky. “He brings expertise from both the telecom and datacom industries, spanning early-stage companies to billion-dollar enterprises,” he adds. “Peter is joining POET at a pivotal period in the company’s growth and development, as we increase the number of engagements with potential strategic partners and customers… Peter’s experience and extensive network of contacts will allow him to contribute meaningfully toward our continued progress on the commercialization of POET’s integrated photonics technology.”

Charbonneau currently serves on the board of directors at Mitel Networks (a provider of cloud and on-site business communications and collaboration solutions) and Teradici Corp (the creator of PCoIP protocol technology and Cloud Access Software). He previously served as chairman of the board of trustees for the CBC Pension Board and a director on the board of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as well as many technology and networking companies, including March Networks Corp, TELUS Corp, BreconRidge Manufacturing Solutions and Dragonwave Inc.

Charbonneau holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario. He is also a member and elected Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario and has received the ICD.D designation from Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada.

Options grants

The board has approved the granting to Charbonneau of 154,730 stock options, exercisable for 10 years at a price of C$0.515 (US$0.40) – the price allocated to the firm’s common shares in its public offering completed on 21 March. The directors’ options vest quarterly in arrears over the following 12 months.

Additionally, POET has granted incentive stock options under its stock option plan to certain members of the management team. These grants consist of the right to purchase up to 6,950,000 common shares. The options vest over a period of four years commencing 27 March 2019 and quarterly thereafter. All options are exercisable at C$0.515 (US$0.40) per share.

Tags: POET

Visit: www.poet-technologies.com