People in the industry – Personnel updates at Bridgelux, Sonneman, and FSC Lighting

LED technology developer Bridgelux (Fremont, CA) recently announced that its board of directors has appointed Intematix co-founder Yi-Qun Li as CEO, in the wake of former executive Tim Lester’s departure. Meanwhile, architectural lighting provider Sonneman (New York, NY) brings board director Andrew B. Cogan into the C-suite as CEO. FSC Lighting (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has made several key appointments, including former MaxLite leader Vincent Alonzi as president and CEO; Jim Hunter as senior vice president of sales and marketing; and Ariel Devore as marketing manager, working directly with Hunter on growth objectives.

Bridgelux appoints phosphor pioneer

First, new Bridgelux CEO Yi-Qun Li comes to the company with deep experience in phosphor technology innovation. Intematix is well-known in the LED and lighting industry for its phosphor developments, including patented green aluminate and red nitride formulations. Li holds a variety of U.S. patents for technologies including LED phosphor compositions, remote phosphor structures, and LED devices. He has also served in research roles at EMCORE and ATMI, and was a research professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.

In recent years, Bridgelux has commercialized its F90 and Thrive technologies into surface-mount-device and chip-on-board LEDs. The F90 LEDs leverage the narrowband red phosphor potassium fluorosilicate for high color rendering, while Thrive utilizes multiple broad-blue emitters claimed to match the spectrum of natural light. Li played a key role in both developments, according to Bridgelux’s announcement.

Sonneman chooses Cogan as CEO

Moving to finished lighting product companies, Sonneman moved Andrew Cogan from the board to the CEO office. Sonneman co-founder and former CEO Sonny Park will become executive chairman and remain on the board.

The company cited Cogan’s decades of leadership experience in e-commerce, design, and mix of commercial and residential business at furnishings designer Knoll, Inc. as key factors in the appointment.

“Andrew understands what it means to lead an innovative brand like ours, and will help us continue to foster a culture committed to design excellence in everything we do,” said Sonneman chairman and chief creative officer Robert Sonneman.

Cogan also serves on the external advisory board of the master in design engineering program at Harvard University; is a director of the American Woodmark Corporation; and is chairman of The Rug Company.

FSC spotlights senior staff changes

Finally, commercial & industrial (C&I) lighting manufacturer FSC Lighting has announced several key personnel updates. Former CEO John Watkins will become executive vice president of business development, with lighting industry veteran Vincent Alonzi stepping into the role of president and CEO. Alonzi has driven sales and earnings growth in roles at MaxLite, Revolution Lighting Technologies, Orion Energy Systems, and Grainger Industrial Supply. According to the company announcement, Watkins will spend the majority of his time on new business development, while Alonzi will target expansion and new product offerings.

Former Apogee Lighting leader Jim Hunter has also joined the company as senior VP of sales and marketing. Alongside Hunter, Ariel Devore will support new marketing efforts while the regional sales team is expanded to bring in new business.

CARRIE MEADOWS is managing editor of LEDs Magazine, with 20 years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.

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