David Hardwick '60

David Hardwick has participated in the laser and fiber optics business since 1960 when he graduated from St. John 's University with a degree in physics. Right after college, he went to work for a research team at Honeywell. Since then he has been a Development Engineer, Manufacturing Manager, Marketing Product Manager and leader/CEO of several start-up laser and fiber optics companies. He is currently semi-retired and living in New England.

Dave has held a variety of positions in the laser field. He has co-founded several companies including Auxora Photonics, Confluent Photonics and IPG Photonics. IPG recently had a successful stock offering (IPO) and is now a public company with a market capitalization approaching one billion dollars.

David has been active in the Optical Society of America (OSA) for many years, has served on their Board and is currently on the board of the OSA Foundation. He is a consultant to IMRA America and advises several venture capital groups on the photonics industry.