Jan Melles

Jan Melles is the cofounder of Melles Griot Inc.  He served in the Dutch Army’s Intelligence Branch with a BS in electrical engineering before immigrating to the US to form Melles Griot.  Following its sale in 1988, he founded Photonics Investments bv which invests in photonics startups.

Since 1991 he has brokered the sale or acquisition of numerous photonics companies in the US and Euyrope and founded/cofounded twelve photonics companies where were either sold or merged into other entities.

Over the years he has served and continue to serve on the board of many of these companies such as Excel Technology, Ocean Optics, Avantes, Gooch & Housego, Synrad, Mikropack, and Nanophotonics.

He serves on the boards of two Dutch government organizations to promote photonics technology in The Netherlands and the EU and is an honorary member of the South African Optical Society.