Ondax Appoints Former Newport Corporation CEO Bob Deuster to Board of Directors

Nov. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- Ondax, Inc, the market leader in the design and manufacture of Volume Holographic Grating filters (VHGs) and wavelength stabilized, semiconductor lasers for the industrial, defense, scientific and medical markets, announced that Robert G. Deuster has joined its Board of Directors.  Mr. Deuster brings a long track record of successful executive experience in the photonics and high-technology instrumentation industries, and most recently served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Newport Corporation , a global leader in lasers, optics and photonics systems from May 1996 until his retirement in October of 2007.

“We are very excited to have Bob join our Board and to help us strategically manage our rapid growth” commented Randy Heyler, President and CEO of Ondax.  “Bob and I spent many years working together at Newport building a fast-growth, market leadership position in the fiber-optics manufacturing equipment business in the late 1990’s, and we are looking forward to repeating that success with Ondax.”

Mr. Deuster added “I see Ondax as a great growth opportunity, and was impressed by the technology, product quality, and true scalability of their operation.  VHG’s are rapidly becoming an embedded technology in a tremendous cross-section of high-value photonics systems, from industrial lasers and metrology instruments, to next-generation displays and medical therapeutic systems.  I am looking forward to actively participating in that transition.”

Stephen Watkins, Ondax Board Chairman, added “Bob brings world-class industry leadership and strategic experience to our Board, and his prior success and strong relationships within the photonics community will help us drive our strategic plan into high-value market segments.”

Prior to Newport, Mr. Deuster served in senior management positions at Applied Power, Inc (now Actuant Corp NYSE- ATU), including President of the Barry Controls and APITECH Divisions. He began his career with various engineering and marketing management assignments at General Electric Company’s Medical Systems Division.  He currently serves on the Board of NEXX Systems, a privately held semiconductor capital equipment company, and Symmetry Medical .

For additional information contact:

Randy Heyler                  
Ondax, Inc.               
rheyler@ondax.com            
Tel. (626) 357-9600            
Fax (626) 357-9321
www.ondax.com

Stephen Watkins
Arcturus Capital
stephen@arcturusvc.com
Tel. (626) 578-5714

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Ondax, Inc. has been manufacturing commercial VHG filters since 2001. VHGs improve laser diode performance by increasing spectral brightness, locking emission wavelength and increasing portability, performance and yield. In ultra-fast lasers, VHGs reduce the form factor of conventional pulse compressors while enabling higher laser power. Ondax also manufactures single frequency VHG-stabilized laser diodes at wavelengths from 403nm to 860nm for applications in Raman spectroscopy, biomedical and analytical instrumentation, environmental sensing, and scientific research.