Innovators, scientists, and seasoned leaders
We are a team of industry veterans who have come together to pave a new path forward for the field of integrated photonics.
Meet the Team
Tin Komljenovic, Ph.D.
Tin Komljenovic, Ph.D., is CEO, Co-Founder, and Board Member at Nexus. Throughout his career, Tin has been an integral contributor on several of DARPA’s heterogeneous photonics projects and, prior to co-founding Nexus, he was Chief Scientist for Lightseed, a startup specializing in the colorless WDM-PON market. Tin’s work has resulted in more than 10 patents issued with dozens more pending.
Chong Zhang, Ph.D.
Chong Zhang, Ph.D, serves as the CTO and Co-Founder at Nexus. Prior to co-founding Nexus, Chong worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprises, specializing in photonics integration. He is recognized for his extensive work in the field, having authored and co-authored over 100 publications and patents related to photonic integration circuits, as well as high-performance optical components and systems.
Minh Tran, Ph.D.
Minh Tran, Ph.D., the Vice President of Research at Nexus, has been with the company since 2019 as a founding employee. Educated in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tokyo and holding a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara, Minh has contributed significantly to the field of integrated photonics. He has achieved numerous world records in his work and has authored various scientific publications and patents in areas including heterogeneous photonics, narrow- linewidth lasers, and high-Q resonators.
John Bowers, Ph.D.
John Bowers, Ph.D., is Chairman, Co-Founder, and Board Member at Nexus. A seasoned scientist and entrepreneur, John is known for co-founding Aurrion (acquired by Juniper Networks) and Aerius Photonics (acquired by FLIR), and for his academic role at UCSB. He has a prolific publication record with 16 book chapters, 840 journal papers, and 1200 conference papers, in addition to holding 66 patents with 16 more pending.
Jiong Ma, Ph.D.
Jiong Ma, Ph.D., serves as a Board Member at Nexus. Jiong is a General Partner of Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) and brings over 25 years of experience in investing, building, and scaling a diverse group of disruptive technology companies. Before joining PVP, Jiong was the founder and CEO of Chavant Capital Acquisition Corp., which successfully merged with Mobix Labs (NASDAQ: MOBX). She serves as a Lead Independent Board Director of SES AI Corporation (NYSE: SES), and as a Chairperson of Anavex Life Sciences Corporation Board (Nasdaq: AVXL).
Frank Levinson, Ph.D.
Frank Levinson, Ph.D., serves as a Key Advisor at Nexus. Frank is a serial entrepreneur and investor, well-known for his work co-founding Finisar Corporation and his leadership on various “clean tech” initiatives. He has more than 40 patents issued across networking, optical communications, and optical components technologies. In addition to his role at Nexus, Frank is a partner at Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) and Managing Director at Small World Group.
