Corporate Information
Alfalight designs and manufactures high-power diode lasers for the industrial, defense, and telecommunications markets. Alfalight's innovative technology is based on advanced aluminum-free active region (ALFA) laser structures, enabling the manufacture of laser diodes with exceptionally high reliability and industry-leading efficiency.
Alfalight diodes have high brightness and output power, while delivering excellent beam quality in a variety of package configurations.
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Alfalight is aggressively positioned to provide strong leadership and consistent market vision, leading to growing revenue and an expanding customer base. Alfalight's commitment to innovation is validated by funding from several government branches including DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Laboratory, advancing our development efforts with improved laser efficiency, brightness, and wavelength stabilization.
Corporate History and Vision:
Alfalight was founded in 1998 in association with the University of Wisconsin and the Reed Center for Photonics with the goal of creating innovative, high-power, high-reliability diode laser sources. Based on technology developed at the Reed Center, Alfalight has license to a strong portfolio of diode laser and processing-related patents.
- Founded November 1998
- First diode laser produced, May 2001
- First production shipment, February 2002
- 976nm Telcordia qualification completed, November 2003
- 22 watt single emitter demonstrated, January 2006
- Integrated grating-stabilized 976nm, April 2006
- Telcordia-qualified 4 watt 940nm, December 2006
- 6 watt 976nm uncooled pump, January 2007
- First delivery of green laser system (NLOD), January 2009
- High-power 808C product line, January 2010
Alfalight is dedicated to delivering extremely efficient, reliable, and innovative high-power diode laser solutions. Our innovative designs, high-quality products, and flexible business approach make Alfalight the ideal supplier for companies who need advanced diode laser solutions.
Executive Team
- Mohan Warrior – President and Chief Executive Officer
- Ron Bechtold – Vice President, Sales and Marketing
- Aaron Marshall – Vice President, Finance
Mohan Warrior – President and Chief Executive Officer
Mohan Warrior joined Alfalight Inc. as president and chief executive officer (CEO) in February 2004. Prior to joining Alfalight, Mr. Warrior's career includes 15 years at Motorola Semiconductors (now Freescale) where he most recently led the test and assembly operations, a group of 3500 employees, in the US, Scotland and Korea. He previously held senior-level leadership positions at Motorola including managing operations for silicon wafer fabrication, and leading a global team of scientists and engineers to develop advanced packaging solutions.
Following Motorola, Mr. Warrior gained a successful track record as an entrepreneur launching two start-ups. Immediately prior to Alfalight, Mr. Warrior was the president and CEO of Nanocoolers, a thin film thermoelectric cooling company in Austin, Texas.
Mr. Warrior received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He was a founding charter member of the Austin chapter of TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs), a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals and is currently a charter member of TiE Midwest. Mr. Warrior has also served as a reviewer for both the Texas State Education Board for Advanced Research Programs (Material Science) and the National Science Foundation (Electronics Materials).
Ron Bechtold – Vice President, Sales and Marketing
With more than fifteen years experience leading sales and marketing teams, Ron Bechtold has demonstrated a successful track record strategically positioning and focusing component businesses to drive growth and profitability. At PerkinElmer Optoelectronics he most recently held the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing. At Hitachi, Mr.Bechtold rose from Product Manager to Director of Sales and Marketing and finally to Vice President and Division GM, covering a broad range of semiconductor, communication and storage products. Prior to Hitachi, he worked in sales at Advanced Micro Devices.
Mr. Bechtold has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Aaron Marshall – Vice President, Finance
Aaron Marshall brings 15 years of manufacturing industry experience managing the financial operations of both publicly traded and privately held companies. As vice president of Finance, Aaron Marshall serves as the company secretary and treasurer and is responsible for driving excellence in the financial reporting of operations. Prior to joining Alfalight, he served five years as the controller for Bone Care International, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, where he managed the SEC reporting and the overall financial operations. Previously he spent nine years at Kerry Ingredients, a global food ingredient manufacturer, where he most recently held the position of corporate controller for their North American division.
Mr. Marshall holds a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside. Mr. Marshall also is a licensed CPA (certified public accountant) and has earned a certification as a CMA (certified management accountant).
Board Of Directors
- Charlie Hoke - Chairman of the Board
- Mohan Warrior - Chief Executive Officer
- Keith Crandell - ARCH Venture Partners
- Russ Johnson - KPL Ventures
- Cam McMartin - CenterPoint Ventures
Charlie Hoke - Chairman of the Board
Charlie Hoke began his career in Banking, rising to Senior Vice President of Firstar Bank. He then completed a leveraged buyout of the LCD division of Hamlin, Inc. In an eight year period, Standish LCD grew from $8M to $36M in revenue and held significant market share in the rugged/outdoor LCD market. In 1997, Mr. Hoke sold Standish Industries to Planar Systems, a public display company based in Beaverton, Oregon. He served as Vice President and General Manager of the components division, a $110M global display business, until his departure in August 1999. Mr. Hoke was the original investor in Alfalight and currently serves on multiple boards.
Mr. Hoke has a BA in economics from UW-Milwaukee and an MBA from Marquette.
Mohan Warrior – President and Chief Executive Officer
Mohan Warrior joined Alfalight Inc. as president and chief executive officer (CEO) in February 2004. Prior to joining Alfalight, Mr. Warrior's career includes 15 years at Motorola Semiconductors (now Freescale) where he most recently led the test and assembly operations, a group of 3500 employees, in the US, Scotland and Korea. He previously held senior-level leadership positions at Motorola including managing operations for silicon wafer fabrication, and leading a global team of scientists and engineers to develop advanced packaging solutions.
Following Motorola, Mr. Warrior gained a successful track record as an entrepreneur launching two start-ups. Immediately prior to Alfalight, Mr. Warrior was the president and CEO of Nanocoolers, a thin film thermoelectric cooling company in Austin, Texas.
Mr. Warrior received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He was a founding charter member of the Austin chapter of TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs), a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals and is currently a charter member of TiE Midwest. Mr. Warrior has also served as a reviewer for both the Texas State Education Board for Advanced Research Programs (Material Science) and the National Science Foundation (Electronics Materials).
Keith Crandell - ARCH Venture Partners
Keith Crandell is a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners, having joined ARCH at its founding. He previously served as Senior Manager with ARCH Development Corporation with responsibilities for ARCH Venture Fund I’s activities at Argonne National Laboratory.
Mr. Crandell has played a key role in the formation and initial funding round of physical materials companies: Alfalight, Eichrom Industries, Nanophase Technologies (NANX), and Illinois Superconductor (ISCO). He was also responsible for investments in information and communications technology companies: Apropos Technology (APRS), Quarry Technologies, Teach.com, and CelebrateExpress, among others. He is a director of AlfaLight, Apropos, CelebrateExpress and Quarry.
Prior to joining ARCH in 1987, Mr. Crandell worked with Hercules, Inc., a specialty chemical and polymer company. He holds an MBA from The University of Chicago, an MS in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a BS in Chemistry from St. Lawrence University.
Russ Johnson - KPL Ventures
Mr. Johnson is currently a partner with KPL Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. From 1998 through 2000 Russ served as the Senior Vice-President of Global Sales and Marketing for JDS Uniphase. During that period he was responsible for the formation of a worldwide sales organization and an integrated marketing program as well as playing an active role in companies M&A activities. Prior to joining JDS Uniphase, Russ spent over twenty years with the Hewlett Packard Company (now Agilent Technologies) in a variety of marketing, operational, and international business roles. These included roles in RF and microwave instrumentation, Computer Aided Engineering, and integrated circuits, in optical instrumentation, and in wireless network management. He was also, in 1986, the founding manager of the HP Asia Pacific Marketing Center in Hong Kong.
Mr. Johnson has a BSEE from New Mexico State University and an MBA from Purdue University.
Cam McMartin - CenterPoint Ventures
Cam McMartin has been a member of the CenterPoint Ventures team since September 1999. He serves on the Board of Directors of Medical Present Value and oversees investments in Alfalight and Mirage Networks. Cam is also a founder and Director of the Texas Venture Capital Association.
Cam has nearly twenty years of operating experience in technology companies. His career focus has been finance and operations. He was most recently Senior Vice President, Operations at Dazel Corporation, an enterprise software company acquired by the Hewlett- Packard Company in June, 1999. In addition, he has held senior management positions with DataCard Corporation, Convex Computer Corporation and Texas Instruments.
Cam´s experience includes public and private equity offerings, acquisitions and divestitures, corporate restructuring and turnarounds. Cam has a B.A. degree from Trinity University and an M. B.A. degree from the University of Michigan.
