18 October 2016

POET appoints chief financial officer

POET Technologies Inc of San Jose, CA, USA — which has developed the proprietary planar optoelectronic technology (POET) platform for monolithic fabrication of integrated III-V-based electronic and optical devices on a single semiconductor wafer — says that Thomas R. Mika has been appointed chief financial officer (effective 2 November). He replaces Kevin Barnes, who remains with the firm as corporate controller & treasurer.

"He is an accomplished executive with significant financial and operational expertise," comments CEO Suresh Venkatesan about Mika. "I would also like to thank Kevin for serving as CFO for the past several years and look forward to maintaining our strong working relationship in his new role."

Mika is currently chairman of the board of Rennova Health, the successor company to CollabRx and its predecessor Tegal Corp, a semiconductor capital equipment company. Since 2005, he has been president & CEO, and at times acting CFO of CollabRx and Tegal, retaining those positions following its merger with Rennova Health in November 2015. Previously, Mika co-founded IMTEC (a boutique investment and consulting firm serving clients in the USA, Europe and Japan over a period of 20 years), taking on the role of CEO in several ventures. Earlier in his career, he was a managing consultant with Cresap, McCormick & Paget and a policy analyst for the US National Science Foundation (NSF). Mika holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

"POET is a visionary company that is poised to disrupt optical data communications with its integrated optical solution," believes Mika. "With a powerful technology platform, first-mover advantage and experienced management team, I believe the company is well positioned for strong commercial success."

Tags: POET

Visit: www.poet-technologies.com