Stepan Essaian - President and CEO

Stepan Essaian is President, CEO, and Founder of Spectralus. He has over 20 years of technical and management experience in solid-state optoelectronics, semiconductor devices, and telecommunications systems and networks. In 2000-02, Dr. Essaian served as the Chief Scientist for Solid State Photonix/Teraburst Networks Co, a leading developer of an OMO analog switch for OXCs. At Teraburst, Dr. Essaian has directed the development of advanced all-optical switch devices for future OXC systems.

Prior to working at SSP, Dr Essaian was staff member of CMOS and SiGe processing research and development group at National Semiconductor Co. Before National Semiconductor, he was a Visiting Professor at the Materials Science Department of Rutgers University. Before immigration to the US, Dr. Essaian was a Principal Scientist at Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in St Petersburg, Russia, and Professor of Optics at Yerevan State University, Armenia, where worked in the fields of acousto-optics, electro-optics, and photo-refractive effects and nonlinear-optics effects in dielectrics and semiconductor materials.

Dr. Essaian is an author of over 100 publications. He holds 12 patents in the field of advanced materials and processes and optical-related technologies. In addition, he has 5 pending patent applications on PPLN technology. Dr. Essaian holds an D.Sc. and Ph.D in Solid State Physics and Optoelectronics from Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg (Russia)

Gregory Nemet - Chief Operating Officer

Gregory Nemet is COO of Spectralus. Greg has been a member of the founding team of Spectralus since 2003. His responsibilities include operational management, strategic planning, as well as finances. Greg has over 20 years of management consulting and entrepreneurial experience. His prior management experience includes Big four consulting (PricewaterhouseCoopers, currently IBM), and several other technology vendors.

In his capacity as a project manager, Greg successfully delivered management and supply-chain solutions for a variety of clients including – Intel, National Semiconductor, Dell, Seagate Technologies, IBM, Extreme Networks, Hitachi and many others, as well as several defense contractors. Greg is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and is a member of Project Management Institute (PMI) and its San Francisco Chapter. He holds a MS in Physics and a Ph.D. in Information Technology from the Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia).

John Khaydarov - Vice President of Laser Engineering

John Khaydarov is Vice President of Laser Engineering. John joined Spectralus in October 2007 and is responsible for laser development and productization. He has more than 20 years of experience in solid-state lasers, widely tunable optical parametric devices, nonlinear and fiber optics, and high-speed fiber-optical telecommunications. Before joining Spectralus Dr. Khaydarov held senior engineering positions at Continuum Electro-Optics and Optimight Communications where he led development and productization of numerous commercially-successful solid-state laser and tunable products for industrial, scientific, medical, and telecommunication markets.

Dr. Khaydarov authored more than 50 publications and presentations and number of patents protecting laser and telecommunication system designs. Dr. Khaydarov received his M.S. in Physics from Moscow State University and Ph.D. in Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics from the General Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences (also in Moscow, Russia).

Gevorg Gabrielyan - Director and General Manager of Manufacturing Facility

Gevorg Gabrielyan is a Director and General Manager of Spectralus Manufacturing Facility. Gevorg joined Spectralus in October 2003 and was responsible for organization of activities in the Spectralus crystal manufacturing plant. He has more than 20 years of technical and management experience in electrical engineering and control systems.

Before joining Spectralus, Gevorg had a distinguished career in Armenian as well as international companies and institutions. Most recently, in 1999-2003, he was a CIS regional manager of Varinter International (London, UK). He also held an Associate Professor's position in Yerevan State Engineering University (Armenia) where he was involved in computer aided design of multi-variable control systems. Dr. Gabrielyan authored more than 20 publications in the field of control systems design. Dr. Gabrielyan received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering in Yerevan State Engineering University and Ph.D. in Moscow Aviation Institute (Russia).