{"id":509353,"date":"2024-11-25T13:12:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T18:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?p=509353"},"modified":"2024-11-25T14:13:15","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T19:13:15","slug":"optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>

Ontario, N.Y. \u2014 Optimax, the largest precision optics manufacturer in the United States, has announced the appointment of Joseph Spilman as CEO and Pete Kupinski as president. With a solid succession plan in place, Optimax CEO Rick Plympton will join president and founder Mike Mandina in retirement. Mandina stepped down in 2021 and passed the president title to Spilman, strategically positioning him for the role of CEO. Plympton and Mandina will now assume the title of corporate fellow. \n<\/p>

Optimax employs nearly 500 employees in Rochester and serves customers and industries worldwide. Also part of the succession plan, the company has operated since 2020 under a perpetual purpose trust that stipulates all employees share in the profit, the company cannot be sold, and leadership must pursue cutting-edge solutions for industry. \n<\/p>

Optimax\u2019s achievements in 2024 include launching Starris: Optimax Space Systems; expanding cleanroom assembly facilities; and collaboratively developing and licensing a monolith telescope technology with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Continually innovating, the company has robust plans for expansion in advanced manufacturing and optical systems in markets spanning space exploration and astronomy, semiconductor, defense, and medical.\n<\/p>

\u201cI believe the management team Rick and I are handing the keys to is one of the best management teams in the industry,\u201d Mandina said. \u201cWe have worked with them over a dozen years, shoulder to shoulder. And after visiting hundreds of companies, this team is exceptionally qualified to lead this company to its future. I trust them completely.\u201d\n<\/p>

Spilman has worked in the optics and photonics industry for 20 years. His previous roles include director of sales and marketing at Optimax, serving on the executive team at ArmorLine Corp., and roles supporting NIR and IR laser optics applications for II-VI Inc. (Coherent). Spilman holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in optics from the University of Rochester\u2019s Institute of Optics and an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology\u2019s Saunders College of Business.\n<\/p>

\u201cI am proud to foster our company mission, which is to enable customer success and employee prosperity,\u201d Spilman said. \u201cRick and Mike have set us up with a resilient business model and an immensely successful company, and I am honored to further their legacy. Considering the Optimax Trust, our talent, our team, and our offerings, Optimax has an incredibly bright future.\u201d\n<\/p>

In their roles, Spilman will focus on market strategy and Kupinski on operations. The Optimax C-suite also includes CFO Tom Starin and CTO Mike Hyman.\n<\/p>

Kupinski has served as Optimax\u2019s chief operating officer and director of engineering. He has worked with Optimax for 13 years, with previous positions with Sony, at Kodak working on the James Webb Space Telescope, and in the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester (UR). He holds an MBA from UR\u2019s Simon School of Business and a master\u2019s degree in materials science and engineering from Alfred University.\n<\/p>

\u201cOptimax strives to be the best possible place to work, offering interesting technical challenges, job security, and the opportunity for career growth,\u201d said Kupinski, who was an Optimax customer before joining the company, drawn to the culture. \u201cI\u2019ve never worked with so many good people under one roof. What\u2019s most important to me, as well as the Optimax board, is taking care of our employees.\u201d\n<\/p>

Revered as successful business leaders locally and nationally, Plympton\u2019s and Mandina\u2019s honors include induction into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame in 2018.\n<\/p>

\u201cOur intent has been to set Optimax up for 100 years of prosperity and growth, creating career opportunities for our employees,\u201d said Plympton. \u201cIt has been important to me and Mike that we created a company where people can work their whole career, for many decades. A robust and resilient business model creates job security.\u201d \n<\/p>

MEDIA:
Dresden@BellCollaborative.com<\/a>
(585) 319-1812<\/p>

Images at https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/OptimaxNov24<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario, N.Y. \u2014 Optimax, the largest precision optics manufacturer in the United States, has announced the appointment of Joseph Spilman as CEO and Pete Kupinski as president. With a solid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11052,"featured_media":509368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"newspack_featured_image_position":"hidden","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4858],"tags":[12929,12928],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[12927],"class_list":["post-509353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-optimax","tag-starris-space-systems","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nOptimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0 - SpaceNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Starris Space Systems\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dbfe985e11213ba78145e41e95e3d12c\"},\"headline\":\"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-25T18:12:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-25T19:13:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\"},\"wordCount\":634,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Optimax\",\"Starris Space Systems\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\",\"name\":\"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0 - SpaceNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-25T18:12:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-25T19:13:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1\",\"width\":1010,\"height\":1009,\"caption\":\"Optimax logo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/\",\"name\":\"SpaceNews\",\"description\":\"Covering the business and politics of space\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SpaceNews\",\"alternateName\":\"SN\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo2x2.jpg?fit=200%2C200&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo2x2.jpg?fit=200%2C200&ssl=1\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"SpaceNews\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceNewsInc\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpaceNews_Inc\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/668857\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpaceNews_Inc\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dbfe985e11213ba78145e41e95e3d12c\",\"name\":\"Starris Space Systems\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/author\/kevin-kearney\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0 - SpaceNews","description":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/"},"author":{"name":"Starris Space Systems","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dbfe985e11213ba78145e41e95e3d12c"},"headline":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0","datePublished":"2024-11-25T18:12:36+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-25T19:13:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/"},"wordCount":634,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1","keywords":["Optimax","Starris Space Systems"],"articleSection":["Press Release"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/","url":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/","name":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0 - SpaceNews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1","datePublished":"2024-11-25T18:12:36+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-25T19:13:15+00:00","description":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1","width":1010,"height":1009,"caption":"Optimax logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/optimax-names-new-ceo-and-president\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Optimax names Joseph Spilman CEO and Pete Kupinski president\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/","name":"SpaceNews","description":"Covering the business and politics of space","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#organization","name":"SpaceNews","alternateName":"SN","url":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo2x2.jpg?fit=200%2C200&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo2x2.jpg?fit=200%2C200&ssl=1","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"SpaceNews"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SpaceNewsInc\/","https:\/\/x.com\/SpaceNews_Inc","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/668857\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpaceNews_Inc"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dbfe985e11213ba78145e41e95e3d12c","name":"Starris Space Systems","url":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/author\/kevin-kearney\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Logo-Optimax-.png?fit=1010%2C1009&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11052"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":509373,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509353\/revisions\/509373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509353"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=509353"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=509353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}