Board of Directors

Dr. Drew Nelson - Non Executive Chairman

Dr. Nelson has been a Non Executive Director of the PhotonStar LED Group since March 2007, becoming Non Executive Chairman in November 2009.

Dr. Nelson joined BT Research Laboratories in 1981, leading the group responsible for the development of MOCVD technology for the manufacture of opto-electronic devices for optical fibre communications. He subsequently managed the technology transfer from BT to Agilent. Together with Mike Scott, he founded EPO in 1988, becoming Managing Director in 1991 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1996. He was appointed Chairman of IQE Plc in April 1999 and became CEO in February 2002.

Dr. James Mckenzie - Chief Executive Officer

James brings a wealth of semiconductor and optoelectronics packaging and product marketing experience to PhotonStar.

James joined Mesophotonics Ltd. in March 2003 as CEO and developed two business units, one in LEDs and the other in analytical biochemistry. In 2007 the analytical biochemistry part of the business was bought by D3, backed by Renishaw. The photonic crystal LED technology was sold to Luxaltek, a Taiwanese LED manufacturer and put into production. James left Mesophotonics in 2007 to set up PhotonStar LED Ltd.

From 2001 to 2003 James worked for Teem Photonics as VP of Business Development and Marketing, helping the company's growth strategies. Prior to this James worked for Bookham Technology when the company was in its very early stages. He was involved, as a member if the management team, in Bookham's fast growth phase leading up to its IPO in 2000. During this period he was responsible for product engineering before moving on to become Director of Product Marketing.

Russell Banks - Chief Financial Officer

Russell Banks was appointed to the board as Chief Financial Officer effective date 2nd April 2013.

Russell comes from a commercially-focused background, having held increasingly senior financial positions in the pharmaceutical, advertising/media and retail sectors. He was previously Chief Financial Officer of FTSE-listed Ark Therapeutics plc, a cutting-edge biotherapeutics developer and manufacturer, and part of a small team charged with executing a strategic direction change from in-house product development to full-service contract manufacturing and regulatory support provision. Prior to that he spent ten years as European Finance Director for biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ), and until 1998 he was Group Finance Controller at mail order business, Compton & Woodhouse Ltd.

A Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Russell holds a BSc in Economics and Accountancy from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology.

Dr. Majd Zoorob - Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Zoorob was a co-founder of Mesophotonics Ltd. where he was responsible for the company's research work and managing the company's IP, as well as theoretical and numerical modelling work. The LED chip designs Majd created were subsequently put into production work at Luxaltek.

Dr. Zoorob has been involved in sub wavelength optics, plasmonics and LED design since his PhD and brings a wealth of optical design and optical modelling experience to PhotonStar. Majd has a PhD from Southampton University in sub-wavelength optics.

Jonathan Freeman - Non-Executive Director

Jonathan Freeman has been appointed to Board as a non-executive director, effective from 28.03.12. He will be Chairman of the audit committee and be closely involved in the recruitment of the new Finance Director.

Jonathan has worked within the financial services sector since 1994, including previous roles as a director of Beeson Gregory (now a part of Investec) and more recently CEO of Syndicate Asset Management plc (now Ashcourt Rowan plc). He is currently a non-executive director of Futura Medical plc and is its senior independent director and chairman of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.