Dr. Christopher Harris
Chief Executive Officer
Chris has a proven track record of driving profitable business growth in international high technology companies through ground-breaking product innovation, cultural change and operational efficiency.
With two decades of experience in the opto-electronics market, working with companies such as Perkin-Elmer and VG Elemental, Chris’s most recent role was as president of Plasmon Inc. (Colorado Springs, USA), a market leader in professional data storage solutions. Chris returned to the UK in 2006 to take up a new role as CEO of Light Blue Optics. A Natural Sciences (Physics) graduate of Oxford University, Chris gained his PhD in Atomic Physics from Imperial College, London.
Paul Goodridge
Chief Financial Officer
Paul joined LBO in 2009, bringing with him 20 years of senior financial management experience and an impressive track record for company growth.
Prior to joining LBO, Paul was Director of Finance at CSR plc for 8 years with responsibility for all financial, legal, and investor relations aspects of the business. During his tenure, Paul managed CSR’s migration from being venture-backed company with revenues of US$5 million, through to its floatation on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of US$300 million and subsequent promotion to the FTSE 250. From 1997 – 1999, Paul was Head of UK Finance for PA Consulting. He has also held senior finance positions at Charrington Fuels and Black & Decker, and has a joint honours degree from Durham University.
Dr. Adrian Cable
Chief Technical Officer
Adrian is one of LBO’s founders, bringing with him deep expertise in diffractive optics and visual science. Adrian leads the Innovation Group that has been responsible for much of the patented innovation within the Company, driving the research and development effort behind LBO’s present and future product portfolio.
A graduate in Electronic Engineering from Cambridge University, Adrian’s PhD focused on holographic optics, projection technology, and design and simulation of novel optical system architectures.
Dr. Tony Milbourn
Chairman
Appointed as Light Blue Optics’ Chairman in 2008, Tony is CEO of Camitri Technologies. Prior to joining Camitri, Tony was Managing Director/CEO of TTP Communications from its foundation in 1988, through an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2000, until its acquisition by Motorola in 2006.
Over that time, the team grew from a handful to 700, with revenues peaking at $120m per annum. From 2000 to 2006 he was also Chairman of ip.access, a femtocell business, and sat on the boards of many international subsidiaries of TTP Communications plc. Tony has an applied maths background with a PhD from Imperial College, and undergraduate degree from UMIST.
Krishna Visvanathan
Partner, Encore Ventures, DFJ Esprit
Krishna has been a Venture Capital investor for over 10 years. He was previously a Partner in 3i’s Venture Capital team and was responsible for several successful investments including Ezurio Ltd, Ubinetics Ltd, Blue Lithium Inc, E2V plc, Fastnet Systems Ltd and BTN Ltd.
He started his career at Ernst & Young before founding Optika Fibre Technologies, a polymer fibre and display technology start-up based in SE Asia. He currently sits on the boards of Icera Inc, Netronome Systems Inc, Taptu Ltd, The Cloud Networks Ltd, Light Blue Optics Ltd and Cambridge Semiconductor Ltd.
He has a degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Wolfgang Seibold
Partner, Earlybird Venture Capital
Wolfgang joined Earlybird’s Technology Team in 2001. Since then, he has made several technology investments and has driven Earlybird’s investment strategy in areas such as semiconductors, materials and clean technologies.
Prior to Earlybird, Wolfgang worked as a management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, focusing on strategic management of IT and High-Tech for various industries. For several years, he was a member of BCG’s Worldwide IT-Practice Group and prior to that worked in communications engineering at Alcatel/SEL. Wolfgang has studied Physics and Mathematics at the universities of Ulm and Newcastle upon Tyne, and has a Dipl. Phys. with a major in semiconductor physics and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Rudi Severijns
Partner & Owner, Capital-E
Rudi joined Capital-E in May 2007. His current investment focus is on communications, multimedia and consumer electronics. Prior to joining Capital-E, Rudi was an executive investment manager in the ICT team of GIMV, a premier Belgian venture capital company.
Rudi started his career in 1986 within the Applied Research Labs of Philips in the Netherlands and worked for more than 11 years at Siemens (ICT division) in R&D, product marketing and business management. At GIMV, Rudi focused on communications infrastructure & software as well as semiconductor opportunities and invested in companies including CoreOptics (Germany/US), Virtensys (UK), Elixent (UK, acquired by Panasonic) and Coware (US). Beside this international VC experience, Rudi brings to Capital-E a wealth of industry and technology expertise, as well as business development skills. Rudi holds an engineering degree in electronics & automation, complemented with an MBA.
Dr. Claus Schmidt
Managing Director, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH
Claus is located in the Stuttgart office with responsibility for technical strategies and decisions, and for maintaining contacts between RBVC and the Bosch management organisation.
Following 16 years spent in operational roles at Bosch, Claus joined RBVC as one of its founding managing partners in 2007. With over 24 years experience in different operational jobs at IBM, DEC and Bosch, Claus has deep insight into various markets including disk drives, display technology, automotive electronics and semiconductors. In addition, he has comprehensive understanding of the production process from R&D, quality and reliability engineering, through to purchasing, P&L responsibility and general management. Claus gained his Ph.D. from the University of Stuttgart after studying at the Max-Planck Institute for Metal Physics.