EPIC, the European Photonics Industry Consortium, has a new President. Basil Garabet, President and CEO of NKT Photonics, takes over from Benno Oderkerk, who served for six years.
“As an organisation, we have persevered through challenging times and, now, it’s crucial that we forge new bridges to ensure that we can gather input from every voice,” said Garabet.
Shahida Imani, CEO of Edinburgh-based ultrashort-pulsed (USP) laser company Chromacity, joins EPIC’s board of directors. Garabet welcomed her arrival as the UK’s regional representative and said her skills of leading SMEs will prove invaluable.
The EPIC AGM in Helsinki, Finland, named Hakan Karlsson, of Hubner Photonics, as its CEO of the Year. Karlsson co-founded Cobolt, which has been a subsidiary of Hubner Group since 2015, and held a range of executive positions since gaining a PhD in Physics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Kestutis Jasiunas, Chairman of Lithuanian USP laser manufacturer Ekspla, was presented with EPIC’s 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award. Jasiunas is one of Ekspla’s founders and was the company’s CEO until January, when he was succeeded by Aldas Juronis.
