Management team
Patrik Evaldsson – Chief Executive Officer
Patrik brings more than 15 years of experience from the optical components industry with a track record of taking products from development into the market. Most recently he held the position as CEO and later CTO at Optillion, a developer and manufacturer of 10 Gb/s pluggable DWDM modules. Prior to joining Optillion, Patrik was responsible for building an Ethernet-based MAN test bed and an Optical WDM field trial, and working with next generation IP and Optical Networks in his work at the Ericsson Group. Prior to Ericsson, Patrik spent six years at AT&T Bell Labs, working on the design of semiconductor lasers, transistors and optoelectronic components. Patrik has a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Bradford, England, and a master's of science in electrical engineering and applied physics from the Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden.
Kevin Green – VP Marketing & Sales
Kevin Green has over 20 years of experience marketing telecommunications devices, most recently as VP of Sales for LuminentOIC, the recognized leader in FTTX optical devices. Previously Kevin was COO of ExceLight Communications Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries. His experience further includes various sales and marketing positions at AT&T/Lucent Microelectronics. Kevin Green holds a Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Pierre-Jean Rigole – Chief Technical Officer
Prior to founding Syntune, Pierre-Jean was a Senior Development Engineer within the Laser Design group at ADC Sweden, the ADC branch that originated from the acquisition of Swedish tunable laser pioneer Altitun. Pierre-Jean had been with Altitun since its foundation in 1997. His Ph.D. research on widely tunable laser diodes at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, laid the basis on which Altitun was built. Pierre-Jean holds a M.Sc. degree in Engineering Physics from the École Nationale de Physique de Marseille, France.
Walker Kinman – Chief Financial Officer
Walker Kinman brings 10 years of experience as a finance professional working in industrial, telecom and internet businesses. Prior to joining Syntune, he was the CFO of Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary Ya.com in Spain. Before joining Ya.com, Walker worked with General Electric's Power Systems division and was a graduate of GE's Financial Management Program. Walker holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration (Finance) from Boston University's School of Management
Peter Szabo – Director of Manufacturing
Prior to co-founding Syntune, Peter was head of the Manufacturing Engineering group at ADC Sweden, responsible for automating the characterisation and burn-in of tunable laser diodes at the Järfälla facility. From 1998 to 2000, he was responsible for reliability studies of the widely tunable lasers at Altitun. Peter holds a M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.
Ulf Rockström – VP Supply Chain
When Ulf Rockström joined Syntune he brought 16 years of experience spanning the full product cycle from development, through manufacturing, to end user applications. Most recently, he was Logistics Manager, responsible for purchasing and production planning, at XaarJet AB, a manufacturer of OEM piezo inkjet printheads. He started his career as Process Technician at IBM, before moving on to a postion as Inkjet Technology Manager at XaarJet, with responsibilities including product line support, technology transfer, and customer support.
Gert Sarlet – Director of Product Management
Gert combines a profound technical knowledge of tunable lasers with a solid understanding of applications and the requirements they pose on the laser. Prior to co-founding Syntune, he was a Senior Development Engineer at ADC Sweden, developing the methods enabling rapid, automated characterisation of the tunable lasers in production. From 1996 to 2000, he was a Ph.D. student at Ghent University, Belgium, where he did research on stabilisation and rapid characterisation of tunable laser diodes, working in close collaboration with tunable laser manufacturers around the world.
