David Errigo, vice president of sales for luminaire manufacturer LumenOptix, has been elected chair of the National Lighting Bureau (NLB), the independent, not-for-profit, lighting-education foundation sponsored by professional societies, trade associations, manufacturers, utilities, and agencies of the U.S. government.

Facing a severe operation crisis Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronic is considering to take the advice of hedge fund management firm Elliott Management Corporation to spin-off into two independent legal entities, The Seoul Economic Daily cited sources familiar with the matter.

Littelfuse  announced that Gordon Hunter, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, will transition to the role of Executive Chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2017. Dave Heinzmann, Chief Operating Officer, will assume the position of President and Chief Executive Officer at that time and will join the company’s board of directors, bringing the size of the board to eight members.

With effect from  1 November 2016, Guido van Tartwijk has become the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tridonic, a company belonging to the Zumtobel Group. He succeeds Alfred Felder, who has been appointed to the Group’s Management Board back in April this year. 

Kateeva, the OLED production equipment leader, announced the appointment of Mark Shaw, Ph.D. as Senior Vice President of Human Resources (HR). Previously, Shaw worked at Lam Research and Applied Materials. He joins Kateeva at a time of rapid growth. He’ll build a comprehensive HR infrastructure to support the company’s accelerating global business, with strategic initiatives to attract, inspire and reward top talent, world-wide.

Quantel Laser announced the opening of a new service center in China at the offices of their long-time partner, Titan Electro-Optics (TEO). The service center, inaugurated at a gala grand-opening ceremony in Beijing on October 24, 2016, will provide local service to all Quantel customers in China. Local service will be available at the company’s Beijing headquarters as well as in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Cree appoints Daniel Castillo as President, Lighting, effective Nov. 7, 2016. In this role, Castillo will report to Chuck Swoboda and will lead both the commercial and consumer lighting businesses. Castillo joins Cree from Eaton Corporation, where he was most recently Senior Vice President, Oil, Gas and IEC Assemblies. Prior to his work at Eaton, Castillo held leadership roles in lighting and other electrical product areas at both Cooper Industries and General Electric.

Osram has gained the services of Thorsten Müller as its new Head of Innovation and Research. The 39-year-old is currently the CEO of the Connected Devices and Solutions division at Bosch and will take up his new position as Head of Corporate Innovation at Osram on December 1, 2016. “Thorsten Müller is an acknowledged expert on the Internet of Things”, said Stefan Kampmann, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OSRAM Licht AG. “He will provide us with valuable impetus for the ongoing digitization and connectivity in the lighting industry and drive forward our transformation into a high-tech company.”

Lighting Science®, a global leader in next-generation LED lighting solutions, today announced the appointment of Jon Brody as Senior Director of Retail Sales. Brody comes to Lighting Science following senior positions at consumer electronics leaders Binatone (a licensee of Motorola) and Jawbone. In his new role, Brody will assume responsibility for expanding the company’s retail channels nationwide.

Osram Opto announced it will be appointing general LED lighting veteran Dr. Jiaping Shao as its new Solid State Lighting sales leader in China.

David Smart has achieved shareholder status at BioStar Lighting, thanks to his success as Vice President of Sales. David has sold over $4 million dollars in LED lighting retrofits within 2 years. His clients include nationally recognized businesses and large commercial property owners such as Hallmark, UMB Bank, Block Real Estate, DST, MC Realty, Tutera Group and US Toy Co. Smart possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and has been passionate about sustainability from a young age.  Selling and managing energy efficient lighting installations comes naturally to him.  He has set himself apart in the industry by providing customer-focused solutions that include best-in-class products resulting in maximum savings for clients.

Advanced optical material specialist Pixelligent is ramping up its deployment strategy in Asia, and set up a new office in Taoyuan, Taiwan two months ago, said the company CEO Craig Bandes in an exclusive interview with LEDinside.

The Supervisory Board of SUSS MicroTec AG has appointed Dr. Franz Richter (61) as a new member of the management board of SUSS MicroTec AG. His contract will run for a period of three years. Richter accepted the appointment to the management board as of today and he will assume his position as new CEO on September 7, 2016. Richter on the one hand stands for continuity in the strategic orientation of the SUSS MicroTec Group and on the other hand for innovation and technological leadership.

Ten years after launching a gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor company, the two Ottawa-based co-founders of GaN Systems, President Girvan Patterson and CTO John Roberts have announced their retirement. Having achieved their goal of building GaN Systems into the world leading manufacturer of GaN power transistors and supplier to more than 500 customers, serial entrepreneurs Patterson and Roberts will leave their operating roles. Patterson will retain a position on GaN Systems’ Board of Directors, while Roberts will remain available to the company as an emeritus contributor.

Alpha Assembly Solutions, the world leader in the production of electronic soldering and bonding materials, announces the election of their Vice President of Energy Technologies, Ravi M. Bhatkal, Ph.D., to the iNEMI Global Board of Directors for a second term.

Veeco Instruments announced the appointment of Kathleen Bayless to its Board of Directors and its Audit Committee.  

After three long years, Opple Lighting’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) application was finally approved by China’s Securities Regulatory Committee (CSRC), and is closer to its goal of being listed on the Chinese bourse.

Osram’s managing board is complete again. At an extraordinary meeting on Monday, the supervisory board of the lighting company appointed Ingo Bank as new CFO of OSRAM Licht AG. Ingo Bank, 48, joins Osram from Parexel, a U.S. biopharmaceutical service provider where he served as Chief Financial Officer. He will take up his post at Osram on September 1, 2016. "In Ingo Bank, we have found a financial expert with a proven track record and a strong international background. At the same time, he has extensive knowledge of technology markets, including the lighting industry," said Peter Bauer, chairman of the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG. Ingo Bank's term will run for three years.

Diminishing size of the annual Guangzhou International Lighting Fair in China was first observed in June 2015, but the extent of the shrinking fair accelerated in 2016. Despite fewer international companies displaying their products at the annual show this year, it still attracted a large number of visitors. In the LED industry where large manufacturers are constantly switching businesses, staying or leaving the industry are all market strategies to embrace market changes. LEDinside had the opportunity to interview Pang Yen Liu, General Manager Production Business Group Sales and Marketing Greater China of EVERLIGHT at the show recently.

Leaders in the LED industry have been supportive of Epistar’s decision to scale down production capacity, the Taiwanese company has frozen nearly a quarter of its production capacity and initiated the largest scale down since its founding, reported China Times. This move could lower increasing cost pressures from depreciating old equipment, but at several large manufacturers shareholder meeting last week, Everlight Chairman Robert Yeh and Unity Opto’s Chairman Alpha Wu supported Epistar’s move, and from a chip buyer perspective announced chip prices had reached rock bottom.

Hubbell Lighting, an innovator in the lighting industry, has named John DiNardi General Manager and Vice President of the Hubbell Lighting Components Business. He currently heads Hubbell Lighting's Technology and Business Development program. This move connects the solid state lighting components brands with Hubbell's advanced technology, product and business development group.

Havells India (the company) has scaled up its share in Promptec to 51%, which values INR 65 million (US $970,000), according to The Dollar Business.

The Luxurious Travel ("Luxurious Travel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive Share Exchange Agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of US Lighting Group ("US Lighting Group"), an independent designer and manufacturer of patent-pending, transformer less, LED lighting technologies.

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, optical and semiconductor industries, today announced that it has appointed a new independent director, Timothy Brog, President of Locksmith Capital, to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. With the addition of Brog, the Board expands to six members, five of whom are independent.

Cree announces that Darren Jackson, most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Advance Auto Parts (AAP), a position he held from January 2008 to January 2016, has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective May 3, 2016.

Digital Lumens, the market leader in intelligent LED lighting systems, today announced the appointment of Steve Ronneberg as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Ronneberg joins Digital Lumens from Montreal-based Grass Valley, part of St. Louis-based Belden Inc., which delivers end-to-end television production and content distribution solutions to meet the mission-critical network infrastructure needs of broadcast markets.

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical industries, announced the appointment of Hany Tamim as Chief Operating Officer. Tamim will have responsibility for all global manufacturing operations of Rubicon Technology. Tamim will be based in Malaysia and report to the CEO, Bill Weissman. The COO role is a consolidation of two senior management positions and will provide the Company with greater coordination of manufacturing operations at a lower cost.

At today’s meeting, the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG extended the contract of Chief Financial Officer Klaus Patzak (49) by five years until 2021, effective from April 1, 2016. Patzak, who holds a doctoral degree in business administration, has been a member of the Osram managing board since April 2011. Before that, he was Chief Accounting Officer and Controller at Siemens AG. “We are very happy to continue our work with Klaus Patzak. He had an essential part in bringing Osram’s transformation forward during difficult times and will now also accompany the company’s strategic realignment with his expertise,” said Peter Bauer, chairman of the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG. Additionally, the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG today gave the green light for a mandate to examine the carve-out of the general lighting lamps business.

GaN Systems, a leading developer of gallium nitride power switching semiconductors, has announced the signing of a distribution deal with Seoul-based global group Websolus. Listed on the Korea New Exchange (KONEX), with 13 Branch Offices in Korea, China, & Thailand, Websolus specialises in three major business sectors: IT Consulting & Systems Integration for Power Grid, Water & Energy systems solutions for Global Infrastructure, and Procurement & Distribution for Electronic Components. \

Universal Display Corporation, enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials,announced today that Rosemarie B. Greco has been named to the Company's Board of Directors. Ms. Greco brings to Universal Display a wealth of experience in building and managing successful organizations, including demonstrated success in executive leadership, director-level governance, building high value partnerships, and advancing projects from vision to execution.