Hawthorn Photonics appoints Doug Benner to its board.

We are pleased to welcome Doug Benner as a Non-Executive Director of Hawthorn Photonics. Doug brings decades of experience across the photonics, electro-optics, aerospace and defense industries, with a career spanning advanced technology, engineering, manufacturing and commercial leadership.

Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Teledyne Qioptiq. Prior to this position he was President of the Defense and Aerospace Segment of Excelitas Technologies Corporation where he led the divestiture of select defense and aerospace businesses to Teledyne in 2025 for approximately $710M.

Commenting on the appointment, Thomas Clay, Chairman of Hawthorn Photonics, said: “Doug’s operational experience and track record of value-creating transactions are highly relevant and strategically important to Hawthorn. He has spent his career working at the intersection of advanced technology, engineering, manufacturing, and commercial delivery, including leading businesses serving some of the most technically demanding markets in the world. We are very pleased to welcome Doug to the team.”

Before joining Excelitas, Doug spent four years as Vice President and General Manager of PerkinElmer’s military and aerospace business. He previously held a number of positions within PerkinElmer Optoelectronics, including Product Platform Manager, Site Operations Leader, Multi-Site Operations Leader and Military/Aerospace Product Line Leader.

Earlier in his career, Doug was co-owner of The Laser and Photonics Center, specializing in laser materials processing for industrial applications, and held engineering, manufacturing and management positions with Monsanto and EG&G.

Doug holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Ohio University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton. He also holds one patent and has authored several technical publications.

Doug said: “Hawthorn Photonics has brought together a group of specialized businesses with considerable expertise in advanced photonics. What particularly interests me is the opportunity to work with an organization that combines technical knowledge with a clear focus on developing technologies for real-world applications. I look forward to bringing my experience to the Board and working with the Hawthorn team as the company pursues its next stages of growth.”

Hawthorn Photonics brings together specialist companies with expertise across advanced photonics, from non-linear optical materials and frequency conversion to electro-optic modulation, laser systems and tunable light sources.

Our group includes AdvR Inc. in Bozeman, Montana; Covesion in Southampton, UK; and Radiantis in Barcelona, Spain. Together, we combine complementary technologies and expertise to provide advanced photonics solutions for quantum science, research, sensing, communications, industrial systems and next-generation optical applications.

Doug’s appointment strengthens our Board with extensive international experience in photonics and electro-optics as we continue to develop the Hawthorn Photonics group and pursue new opportunities for growth.