Tucson: New Zygo CEO Former U of A Scientist

Zygo picks CEO from UA

Optics company, based in Conn., employs 40 here



By David Wichner

ARIZONA DAILY STAR 1/26/10

Zygo Corp., a Connecticut­based optics company with an operation in Tucson, has named former University of Arizona op­tical scientist Chris Koliopoulos as president and CEO.

Zygo, which employs about 40 people locally, also announced that it has acquired Zemetrics Inc., a Tucson-based optics startup that makes microscopes that take three-dimensional measurements of surfaces.

Koliopoulos succeeds Zygo CEO J. Bruce Robinson, who in October announced his planned retirement as CEO and director. Koliopoulos also was named to the board of Zygo, which is pub­licly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Koliopoulos formerly was president and CEO of ADE Corp., which was acquired by Califor­nia- based KLA-Tencor Corp. in 2006.

In prepared remarks, Zygo Chairman Bruce W. Worster cit­ed Koliopoulos’ background of leadership and success in the corporate world, entrepreneur­ship and academia.

“He is widely regarded as an in­dustry luminary, with his exten­sive experience in optical systems and proven ability to manage businesses in this space and drive shareholder value,”Worster said.

Koliopoulos said Zygo, which is based in Middlefield, Conn., has a strong market position, citing the company’s advanced optics technologies, recent cost­cutting initiatives and a focus on core technologies.

“I’ve spent much of my career competing with Zygo; it feels great to now be working with this optics powerhouse,” Koliopoulos said in a prepared statement.

Koliopoulos received a doctorate in optical sciences from the UA in 1982 and later served as a faculty member. He was a founder of two optical metrol­ogy companies, Wyco Corp., which he co-founded in 1984 with UA College of Optical Sci­ences Dean Jim Wyant, and Phase Shift Technology, which Koliopoulos co-founded in 1987.

Wyco was acquired by Veeco Instruments in 1997, and Phase Shift was acquired by ADE in 1998. From 1998 to 2002, Ko­liopoulos served as vice presi­dent of ADE and president of ADE Phase Shift.

Koliopoulos was an early in­vestor in Zemetrics in 2007 and has served as a director and ad­visor to the company since then, Zygo said in a news release.

Terms of the acquisition of Zemetrics were not disclosed.

Zemetrics, which employs about 13 people in Tucson, re­leased its first high-end prod­uct, called the ZeMapper Opti­cal Surface Profilometer, in early 2009.

Meanwhile, Worster said Zygo’s board has hired two con­sulting firms to help evaluate an unsolicited buyout offer from a Pennsylvania-based optics firm. II-VI Inc. has bid to acquire all of Zygo’s outstanding shares of common stock for $10 per share in cash or II-VI stock. The proposed deal, announced ear­lier this month, would be worth about $170 million, according to The Associated Press.