Team & Values

PhotonFirst is building an amazing team of true professionals to support you develop, build and apply state-of-the-art integrated photonics sensing technology. Below you find their names and unique faces. Do you want to meet them in person? Let us know!

Sr. Industrialisation Engineer

Elvis Wan

Project Manager

Oscar van Schijndel

Sr. Application Solution Engineer

Ivar Koren

Application Development Lead

Michael Haverdings

ESD & Cleanroom Coordinator

Maurice van der Meer

Development Engineer

Michael Schenk

Controller

Suzanne de Vries

Director R&D

Thijs van Leest

Project Manager

Ewoud Velu

Researcher

Morris Cui

Business Development

Jan-Jurien de Rijck

Marketing Manager a.i.

Mark Cremer

Development Engineer

Palak Singh

Tactical Buyer & Supply Chain Planner

Michael Sieval

HR&O Manager

Sjoukje Blom

Software Engineer

Bas Borgignons

Administrative Employee

Emmy Kat

Application Sales Engineer

Gideon Langedijk

Researcher

Vincent Docter

Office Manager

Heidi Beers

Board

Enabling these talented team members to deliver most value for our customers and continuously develop and stay ahead of their peers in the market, PhotonFirst is lead by a Board of four.

CCO

Rogier Vos

Rogier Vos
CCO

Rogier Vos is responsible for Marketing & Sales in the Board of PhotonFirst. 20+ years of business experience, successfully leading change, M&A, managing sales & marketing, business development and operations in local and international settings have made him an entrepreneurial-minded business development professional with a passion for innovation and change. With a track record in the manufacturing industry, services and healthcare, he is creating a competitive advantage and adds value to the bottom line. He is a known inspirational and energetic manager, who loves working within a team on a forward-thinking while hands-on approach.

CTO

Nick Singh

Nick Singh
CTO

Nick Singh owns the technology agenda of PhotonFirst. He leads the Research & Development teams jointly executing on our ambition to become and stay innovation leader in our field. Nick is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of the UK Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET) with a PhD in Plasma Physics from University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse (F). He gained extensive expertise is in multidisciplinary engineering and new product introduction in high-tech market segments like semiconductors, photonics, flexible electronics, analytical instrumentation, water and energy. Nick brings over 25 years of experience and track record of consistently delivering innovative and commercially successful new technology products and services to customers in the UK, Europe, China, South Korea and the USA.

CTO

Nick Singh

Managing Director

Leendert-Jan Nijstad

Leendert-Jan Nijstad
Managing Director

Leendert-Jan Nijstad is responsible for day2day execution at PhotonFirst. He leads the project management and operations functions and chairs the Management Team. Before this entrepreneurial dive in the photonics world, he gained substantial experience in the Aerospace industry as Head of Operations for a major Tier-1 Landing Gear supplier - almost doubling that company in size. Previously he run a business line in Aerospace maintenance, led a merger of 2 US companies and setup project management functions at various business units.

CEO

John de Kok

John de Kok
CEO

John de Kok leads the board of PhotonFirst. His career has taken him from scientist to board member of a multinational organization, partner at a big 4 consulting firm and eventually serial entrepreneur. In different types of organizations and ecosystems, he has gained experience in change, M&A, managing sales & marketing, business development, engineering and operations. John believes that innovation is fundamental to creating a healthier world and his personal purpose is to foster knowledge and networking. In addition to PhotonFirst, he is also CEO of the deep-tech organization Technobis Group, of which PhotonFirst is a spin-off, and is a supervisory board member of several healthcare organizations and a lecturer at a university. 

CEO

John de Kok

Values


The best way to characterize our team is through its values. We are passionate pioneers in integrated photonics sensing collaboratively shifting the paradigm of measuring strain, shape, temperature or pressure. We are persevering and determined to help our customers win in their end-markets with an open mind and friendly attitude.

PhotonFirst team