Management Team
Jason Eichenholz Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
Jason is an Experienced Technology Development Executive, Technology Scout and Open Innovation Practitioner. He started OPI because he saw a chasm between garage inventors and academic researchers who wanted to see their work commercialized and companies looking for new ideas.
Prior to starting OPI, he served as the Divisional Technology Director at Halma PLC responsible for supporting open innovation and technology and strategy development for the Photonics Division as well as other divisions and companies inside Halma.
Prior to Halma, Jason was Chief Technology Officer for Ocean Optics and Director of Strategic Marketing for Newport and Spectra-Physics.
Jason has been actively involved in laser and photonics research and product development for more than 20 years, and has written and delivered over 50 papers at conferences and in refereed journals in the areas of fiber optics, photonics, and solid state, ultrafast, and frequency-agile lasers.
He holds nine US Patents on new types of solid-state lasers, displays and photonic devices. Jason has served as the principal investigator for Air Force and DARPA STTR’s and SBIR’s.
His active interests are in the areas of rapid product development, lean startups, open innovation, entrepreneurship, optics, photonics, spectral imaging and sensing, MOEMS devices, novel optical coatings, displays and next generation bio-medical devices.
Jason is Fellow of OSA and a Senior Member of SPIE. He has served on several senior membership and technical committees for those societies. He also serves as a Courtesy Faculty Member at CREOL – The School of Optics at the University of Central Florida.
Jason has a M.S. and Ph.D in Optical Science and Engineering from CREOL – University of Central Florida and a B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Scott Faris
Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder
Scott is a seasoned technology executive and venture finance and innovation strategy professional with 20+ years of entrepreneurship, senior management and technical leadership experience in seed-stage investment; venture-backed startups and established public and private technology firms with a global presence.
Scott’s prior management and entrepreneurship expertise includes a diverse track record in new venture investment; technology company start-up and scaling operations; innovation process management, including technology commercialization; corporate development, strategy & strategic alliances; federal and commercial business development. Corporate strategy and development experience includes the following, with a principal focus on technology & energy industries: corporate strategy design and execution, change management, process improvement, management team development for growth. Scott is also experienced in M&A strategy and targeting, new market entry, growth strategy & competitive strategy.
Scott is active as an Officer and Director in regional and state technology and economic policy organizations. In addition to his governance roles, Scott provides leadership in the areas of science, technology & innovation policy strategy & execution for national/state/regional organizations, venture capital firms; major corporations. He is active in state/region economic/cluster development policy & program strategy and management.
Scott has a BS in MIS from Penn State University
Matt D. Weed Ph.D.
Director of Research & Development
Matt joined the OPI team at the beginning in search of product development projects with real commercial impact. He has surveyed technology markets and lead product development teams to deliver on OPI projects.
Prior to joining OPI, Matt conducted research into the integration and fabrication of chip-scale photonic devices at CREOL, the College of Optics at the University of Central Florida. His scope of work at UCF included the full range of semiconductor fabrication – thin film growth and deposition, lithography, and packaging.
As a volunteer in the technology community, Matt is a Steering Committee member of the National Photonics Initiative and chairs the NPI Taskforce on Education & Workforce Development. He is also Chair The Optical Society’s Public Policy Committee, and has been an active force in representing the high-tech community’s interests in Washington D.C. since 2008.
Matt has a M.S. and Ph.D in Optics from CREOL – University of Central Florida and a B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
