Richard Craig is currently teaching and advising early stage companies after thirty years in senior management in technology companies. He has previously been CEO of four venture backed start-up companies: Santur, Kaai, Picarro, and Topanga Technologies.  He has been a President or Corporate Vice-Present three public companies; Oclaro, JDSU, and SDL. He has managed businesses in all of the three major materials systems used in semiconductor laser fabrication: Gallium Arsenide, Indium Phosphide, and Gallium Nitride.  The common thread in all these positions has been how to drive economic value from technical innovation in optical devices. With Rich’s help these companies were able to translate a unique technology into a world leading commercial products.  

Prior to senior management positions he spent five years as an engineering product manager at SDL and five years as a research scientist at Hughes Research Laboratories.  

Rich has a PhD with a thesis on high power semiconductor lasers from UCLA and a BA in physics from UC Berkeley.