Our People

Mr. Omer Granit 

Executive Chair
LLM, LLB, BA

US-Based, Mr. Granit is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and lawyer with deep expertise across capital markets, M&A, advanced manufacturing, and strategic governance. He brings over 20 years of experience in sourcing, executing, and managing complex transactions across the United States, Europe, and Israel.

Mr. Granit currently serves on the board of Amaero International Ltd (ASX:3DA), a leader in advanced manufacturing and high-performance materials for defence, aerospace, nuclear and energy sectors. In this role, he has been instrumental in driving strategic investments and governance initiatives that have materially supported the company’s growth ambitions and financial position. Mr. Granit is a major investor in Amaero and Beonic, both listed on the ASX.

Omer Granit is Partner at EnPar Capital in New York, where he is investing across both private and public markets. He is a strong believer and active investor in the re-shoring of supply and production chains, with a focus on driving long-term strategic value. Previously, he was the Founder and CEO of MIXER, a high-end co-working company, and the Founder and CEO of West 4 Capital, a UK-regulated hedge fund. He also served as CEO and Head of Investments at a London-based family office, managed alternative investments for a major institutional investor, and began his career as an M&A attorney at the New York office of White & Case, one of the world’s leading law firms. Mr. Granit brings deep expertise in M&A, capital markets, and governance, with a proven track record in sourcing and executing complex transactions. He holds an LLM in Corporate Law from NYU, where he was Valedictorian, and dual degrees in Law and Finance from Reichman University. He is admitted to both the New York and Israel Bars.

Ms. Lucy Robb Vujcic

Non-Executive Director
LLM, LLB, FGIA

Lucy Robb Vujcic is a commercial barrister and corporate governance specialist with extensive experience across corporate law, defence procurement, government contracting and international arbitration. Before joining the Bar, Lucy was an associate at leading U.S. law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where she advised multinational corporations on bilateral investor-state disputes.

A former Non-Executive Director of Amaero International Ltd (ASX:3DA), a U.S.-based ASX-listed company specialising in advanced manufacturing and high-performance materials for the defence, aerospace, nuclear and energy sectors, she oversaw a period of significant growth and commercial traction.

Lucy holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from the University of Sydney, a Master of Laws from New York University, and is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Mr. Ata Gokyildirim

Non-Executive Director
BCom, Accounting & Finance

Ata Gokyildirim is a seasoned commercial executive with extensive hands-on sales, customer and revenue growth, and commercialisation expertise.

In his current role as Chief Revenue Officer at AI technology company Insait IO, he has accelerated market penetration, formed strategic partnerships, and optimised product delivery. He brings a proven track record leading high-growth technology ventures and a deep understanding of complex technology business models, operating environments, and go-to-market strategy from seed through to scale. He was previously the Chair of biotech company Prima BioMed, now Immutep (ASX:IMM); and has held senior executive and consulting roles including at AI-powered regulatory technology companies Forter and Sedric as well as AI platform LoudNClear.

Mr. Jim Haden

Executive Director & CEO
MSEE, BEE

Jim Haden is an expert laser diode executive with three decades’ laser industry expertise and a demonstrated track record transforming advanced technology businesses from R&D and early-stage product development to profitable, high growth commercial entities. He has held senior executive and advisory roles at several of BluGlass’ prospective customers and competitors, including Senior Technical and Operations Adviser at Kyocera SLD, Chief Operating Officer at nLight, Director of Operations and Product Line Management at Coherent, and Director of Operations at JDS Uniphase.

Jim’s unique synergy of deep technical, commercialisation and leadership skills along with his extensive customer and supply chain network will be invaluable in helping BluGlass solve our reliability challenges as we transition the Company to profitability and deliver a pipeline of next-generation laser products to market.

In his most recent role at Soora Laser Diode (now Kyocera-SLD), Jim was responsible for guiding operations and development teams to stabilise, improve, and ramp high-power blue GaN lasers. This product development delivered a leading automotive customer and rapid revenue growth, assisting in their acquisition by Kyocera in January 2021.

Prior to this, Jim was the Chief Operating Officer at nLIGHT, helping transform the business from early-stage revenue generation to its current market leadership position. During his time with nLIGHT, he more than doubled revenue, delivered a four-fold increase in R&D return on investment, streamlined production management, and improved manufacturing yields and cost margins; ultimately assisting the business to attract expansion capital of US$25M.

Other senior roles include Director of Operations and Product Line Management at Coherent Incorporation, Director of Operations South Bay Operations at JDS Uniphase, and Director of Operations at Spectra Diode Lasers (acquired by JDS Uniphase for US$41B).

As President, Jim oversees all aspects of the business and will be responsible for transitioning BluGlass from its R&D origins to a technology development and product manufacturing company.

Jim Haden

Executive Director & CEO
MSEE, BEE

James (Jim) Haden is an expert laser diode executive with three decades’ laser industry expertise and a demonstrated track record transforming advanced technology businesses from R&D and early-stage product development to profitable, high growth commercial entities. He has held senior executive and advisory roles at several of BluGlass’ prospective customers and competitors, including Senior Technical and Operations Adviser at Kyocera SLD, Chief Operating Officer at nLight, Director of Operations and Product Line Management at Coherent, and Director of Operations at JDS Uniphase.

Jim’s unique synergy of deep technical, commercialisation and leadership skills along with his extensive customer and supply chain network will be invaluable in helping BluGlass solve our reliability challenges as we transition the Company to profitability and deliver a pipeline of next-generation laser products to market.

In his most recent role at Soora Laser Diode (now Kyocera-SLD), Jim was responsible for guiding operations and development teams to stabilise, improve, and ramp high-power blue GaN lasers. This product development delivered a leading automotive customer and rapid revenue growth, assisting in their acquisition by Kyocera in January 2021.

Prior to this, Jim was the Chief Operating Officer at nLIGHT, helping transform the business from early-stage revenue generation to its current market leadership position. During his time with nLIGHT, he more than doubled revenue, delivered a four-fold increase in R&D return on investment, streamlined production management, and improved manufacturing yields and cost margins; ultimately assisting the business to attract expansion capital of US$25M.

Other senior roles include Director of Operations and Product Line Management at Coherent Incorporation, Director of Operations South Bay Operations at JDS Uniphase, and Director of Operations at Spectra Diode Lasers (acquired by JDS Uniphase for US$41B).

As President, Jim oversees all aspects of the business and will be responsible for transitioning BluGlass from its R&D origins to a technology development and product manufacturing company.

Dr. Ian Mann

Chief Technology & Operations Officer
​PhD, MBA,  MSc, BSc-Eng, FAICD

Expertise and Experience:​

• Prototype and product development
• Commercialisation of intellectual property
• Technology and scientific team management

Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the BluGlass technology and commercial teams with his experience in managing and developing technology companies and commercialisation plans to bring high technology projects to commercial outcomes.

Prior to joining BluGlass he was the CEO of Bandwidth Foundry International Pty Ltd working on innovations in chip based optoelectronics including laser projectors while leading a commercial microfabrication foundry service for innovative Australian companies and research institutions. Ian has worked in a number of cutting-edge technology companies in the US and Australia where he has managed technology teams, developed and executed transition strategies, business plans and facilitated mergers and acquisitions along with establishing spin off companies to commercialise intellectual property.
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Ian received his PhD in Polymer Science from Akron University in the US working on flat panel displays and has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

During his time at BluGlass he has led the technology team to complete a number of the company’s critical technical milestones including the achievement of its proof-of-concept milestone in November 2012.

Brad Siskavich

Executive Vice President
​20+ years experience in semiconductor industry leadership

Experience and Expertise:

• ​20+ years experience in semiconductor industry leadership
• Extensive experience transferring technology from prototype to commercial production

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Brad Siskavich has more than 20 years’ experience in developing, marketing and commercialising new technologies in start-up and high-growth environments in the compound semiconductor, photovoltaic (solar), laser, photonics and opto-electronics industries.

He has previously worked in senior research and business development roles at companies that include Emcore, Oxford Instruments and Masimo Semiconductor.

Brad brings significant industry expertise to BluGlass, with deep research and business development experience across the sector. His role has a global focus for both BluGlass and the EpiBlu service business. He provides us with a dedicated resource based in the US to develop export markets there for our RPCVD technology.

Samuel Samhan

Chief Financial Officer
​BEc (Accounting), MBA, GAICD

Experience & Expertise

• Strategic and finance leadership
• Development and delivery of growth strategy

Mr Samhan is a highly credentialled senior executive with more than 20 years financial leadership and commercial operations experience. He was previously the Chief Operating and Financial Officer at Digital Wellness – a global health platform. Other roles include Head of Commercial and Business Transformation at Vitality Works – Sanitarium Workplace Health and Wellness, and Commercial Manager at Evolution Healthcare Group.

Sam brings hands-on experience transforming financial and commercial operations to significantly increase profitability.  Sam’s domestic and international expertise in business-model innovation and cost-effective strategies will be invaluable as we continue to scale our laser production capability to meet unmet market needs and grow revenues.

Mr Samhan holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting), Master of Business Administration, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr. Josh Brown

Head of Epitaxy
​PhD (Physics)

Experience & Expertise

• III-Nitride crystal growth by MOCVD and RPCVD
• Optoelectronic device simulation
• GaN-based laser diode design
• RPCVD equipment and process development

Josh received his BSc in physics with First Class Honours in 2007 and PhD in 2012 from Macquarie University in the field of experimental condensed matter physics.

He began working as a Senior Process Engineer at BluGlass in 2011, contributing to III-Nitride material and device development, which helped deliver the company’s proof-of-concept milestone in 2012. During his time at BluGlass Josh has also been heavily involved in the equipment and process development of BluGlass’ core RPCVD technology. He is a primary author on a number of publications and a named inventor on several key patents.

Since 2017, Josh has led EpiBlu, the epitaxy foundry services arm of BluGlass – providing custom R&D and engineering solutions to customers around the world using both MOCVD and RPCVD platforms. Now as the Head of Epitaxy, he is the lead epitaxial scientist for the development of BluGlass’ RPCVD-enhanced laser diode products.

Denis Timoney

Head of Hardware and Facilities
​HNC Mechatronics

Experience & Expertise

• Semiconductor equipment engineer and technician
• Facility design, build and management
• Work, health and safety

Denis is an expert semiconductor hardware engineer with more than 20 years’ experience, managing equipment and facilities for major semiconductor manufacturing organisations around the world. He commenced his career at National Semiconductor (UK) as a maintenance technician in Photolithography. He joined ASML as a Field Service Engineer and spent 12 years working in various roles, from Lead Engineer on NPI system upgrades worldwide (Taiwan, US, Europe) to customer support services, maximising throughput and machine uptime across Europe and the UK.

Since moving to Australia, Denis was a Photolithography Equipment Engineer at Silanna Semiconductors before joining BluGlass as a Senior Hardware Engineer in 2013. He was promoted to Head of Hardware and Facilities in 2019.

During his time at BluGlass, Denis has implemented the largest facility upgrade in our history. This increased the manufacturing capacity and capability, with the development of the Paul Dunnigan Laboratories, which were delivered on time and on budget. He also played a major part in the overhaul of the Company’s WHS system and has implemented world-leading semiconductor manufacturing safety standards across BluGlass’ Sydney Australia and New Hampshire, USA facilities.

Dr. Ryan Anderson

Senior Laser Scientist
PhD (Physics)

Expertise and Experience:

• Growth and characterisation of nitride materials in a broad range of applications from from lighting to photonic-integrated circuits
• Specialised expertise in the design, growth, and fabrication of GaN laser diodes

Ryan recently received his PhD in Materials Science from UC Santa Barbara and joins BluGlass with nearly a decade of research experience in GaN optoelectronics. He has extensive practice in design, growth, and fabrication of GaN laser diodes.  His focus on novel laser designs has resulted in several authored publications in peer-reviewed journals. Applications-driven research has allowed Ryan to work on a wide variety of projects, from lighting to photonic-integrated circuits, funded by companies and governments. Before earning his graduate degree, Ryan worked as a Process Development Engineer at Cree, where he developed high efficiency GaN material growth of LEDs for several years in a production scale manufacturing environment. Ryan received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.