Join us in congratulating Joseph Spilman on being appointed president of Optimax. He is the second president of Optimax in its 30-year history and brings more than 20 years of experience in the optics and photonics industry, including 10 years at Optimax, most recently as the organization’s Director of Sales & Marketing.

“It is truly an honor to be a part of such a great company and take on this new role,” said Spilman. “Optimax has experienced phenomenal success during the past 30 years and our team is positioned to continue to build on the foundation created by our former President Mike Mandina and CEO Rick Plympton.”

Prior to joining Optimax, Spilman was a member of the executive team at ArmorLine Corp., a start-up company in Indian Land, South Carolina, and was responsible for the commercial operations of this capital-intensive advanced transparent ceramic manufacturing business. He also previously worked for II-VI in industrial laser and defense IR optics and NR solid-state laser applications. Spilman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Optics from the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Rochester Institute of Technology’s Saunders College of Business.

Optimax recently transitioned to a perpetual purpose trust (PPT) ownership structure. The trust is governed by trustees and a board of directors, which Spilman is a part of, and the chairman of the board is former Optimax president Mike Mandina. Rick Plympton remains CEO of the company.