David Krohn

David Krohn has over 40 years experience in the photonics industry. He is the Managing Partner of Light Wave Venture LLC, which is focused on developing telecommunications, sensor, power delivery and energy related business opportunities. He has assisted over 115 companies with activities in marketing, planning and management functions as well as technical input. In prior experience, he served as Global New Business Director for Photonics at 3M Company. From 1987 to 1998, he was the General Manager of the 3M Specialty Optical Fiber Business that included the Bragg Grating Technologies business acquired from UTC in 1995. He founded EOTec Corporation in 1979 that manufactured specialty fiber, sensors, cables, cable assemblies and data links. He was the CEO of EOTec until the business was acquired by 3M in 1987.

At this time, he is also very active in many technical societies and teaches short courses in technology and business development at various Universities. Recently, he started the OIDA Photonic (Fiber Optic) Sensor Consortium which has more than 60 participating companies and organizations. As the photonics marketplace has radically changed in the last few years, he has worked with several companies to diversify into non-telecommunication markets such as military, homeland security, biomedical and green energy areas such as alternative energy sources and solid state lighting.

David Krohn has significant experience in the technical aspects of photonic design and fabrication and is currently active in the development of advanced photonic components and systems. He played a key role in the development of polarizing maintaining (PM) fiber that is a critical component in advanced gyro systems. He has also been very active in the development of advanced laser technology as well as illumination and imaging systems. At 3M and in his role at Light Wave Venture, he managed manufacturing engineering teams that support high quality fabrication and cost reduction. In addition, he is active in technology transfer and intellectual property associated with photonics products and manufacture.

David Krohn attended Rutger sUniversity as an undergraduate (BS 1965). He obtained his MS from Case Western Reserve University in 1967 and his Ph.D. from Lehigh University in 1973. All his degrees are in materials science.

He has written 4 books, over 60 papers and holds 27 patents relating to photonics.

David Krohn has several affiliations listed below:

• Carolinas Photonics Consortium (Technical Advisory Board)
• Ontario Centers of Excellence (Technical Advisory Board)
• OIDA Photonic Sensor Consortium (Chairman)
• SPIE
• OSA
• IEEE
• ISA
• ACS