News: Optoelectronics
1 March 2023
BluGlass appoints president Jim Haden as CEO
BluGlass Ltd of Silverwater, Australia – which manufactures gallium nitride (GaN) blue laser diodes based on its proprietary low-temperature, low-hydrogen remote-plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) technology – has appointed Jim Haden as CEO.
Since joining the firm as president in September 2021, Haden has brought BluGlass’ GaN laser technology to market, significantly improving laser performance and reliability to successfully launch its first suite of products and secure initial customer orders.
Haden was instrumental in the acquisition of a purpose-built laser production fab, which is enabling BluGlass to vertically integrate its downstream manufacturing processes, expedite development and production, and improve laser quality while reducing manufacturing costs.
BluGlass notes that Haden is an industry veteran with more than three decades of laser expertise and a track record of transitioning advanced technology businesses from R&D and early-stage product development to profitable, high-growth commercial entities. He has held senior leadership positions at several of BluGlass’ potential customers and competitors, including senior technical & operations adviser at Kyocera SLD, chief operating officer at nLight, director of operations & product line management at Coherent Inc, director of operations at Spectra Diode Lasers (acquired by JDS Uniphase for US$41bn), and director of operations at JDS Uniphase (now Lumentum).
In his most recent role at Soraa Laser Diode (now Kyocera-SLD), Haden was responsible for guiding operations and development teams to stabilize, improve and ramp high-power blue GaN lasers. This product development delivered a leading automotive customer and rapid revenue growth, assisting in their acquisition by Kyocera in January 2021.
“Jim’s technical expertise, industry network, and commercialization know-how has been instrumental in transforming BluGlass from our R&D origins to a commercial provider of GaN lasers,” comments chair James Walker. “We are now a genuine player in a fast-growing market with very few competitors and high barriers to entry. Our unique value proposition caters to our customers’ biggest challenges, and feedback on our newly launched products has reaffirmed we have the right team and strategy in place to become a market leader,” he reckons.” As CEO, Jim will have greater operational control across our three production facilities in Sydney, Silicon Valley and Nashua, and will be responsible for the continued transition to revenue generation and sustainability,” he adds.
BluGlass appoints US-based ex-Soraa/nLIGHT/Coherent/JDSU veteran as president
