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Al Kapoor has three decades of experience with cutting edge industry formation at either startups or established corporations. His newsletter Pioneering Minds serves over 100,000 industry leaders worldwide to reveal epicenters of new industry formation. He has a Master’s degree in Engineering (Material Science, Robotics) and also an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Al was a member of YPO from 1999-2019 and has been a member of The National Scientific Research Honor Society (Sigma Xi) since 1991. Al is on the advisory council for the AIM Academy at MIT that fosters education in photonics integrated circuits. From 2005-2015, Al was an executive volunteer for TiE (largest entrepreneurship non-profit organization in 60 cities and 20 countries), serving as chair of innovation conferences 2006-2008, president in Boston from 2008-2012, and then Global Chairman in 2015.
As Chairman, he also worked with the White House for a year to establish a national and global entrepreneurship program.
Al started his career in 1992 at Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana where he led a new product development team for cam systems. He also worked at BMW in Munich, Germany advising the head of R&D. In 1999, Al began to start ventures like Syntec Optics, Wordingham Technologies, RTM that he grew over tenfold. He has also been involved as an investor in several companies, most recently Spark Photonics, a spinoff from MIT AIM Academy, and an advisor for over a dozen other companies.
Marc joined Syntec, RTM, and Wordingham in 2012 as Controller in the finance department. In 2016 he successfully led the move of all three companies into one campus in the City of Rochester. Subsequently, he led the merger of the three companies to provide customers advantages of efficiencies and cost. Marc has a business degree from the University of Buffalo, NY.
Douglas Axtell joined Syntec Optics in 2016 as Program Manager in Syntec’s polymer optics division, which encompasses process engineering, quality engineering, optical and opto-mechanical assembly. Prior to joining Syntec’s team, Doug held various project, chemical and coating engineering positions in Kodak’s Research Laboratories and later at Reflexite Display Optics as Sr. Material Scientist in Product Development where he contributed IP in UV cure formulation and coating performing toll R&D work. He achieved his Six Sigma Black Belt certification while at Kodak and during his tenure at Kodak and Reflexite. He was awarded ten patents. He received a BS in Imaging Science and an MS in Product Development from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Peter joined Syntec in 1999 as Quality Manager. He returned to Syntec in 2020 in his new position after several years of experience as Engineering Manager and Business Development Manager at both small and large companies. In a short period, he transformed Syntec’s approach to sales and new business development for higher customer satisfaction.
Richard Arndt is particularly qualified to lead Syntec Optics new business development team due to his exceptional blend of practical and theoretical expertise in optical tooling, optics molding, and many industries’ application needs. He has over 30 years of precision manufacturing, design for manufacturing, and sales experience, the last 12 with Syntec. Rick co-founded Rochester Tool and Mold, a successful mold manufacturing firm subsequently acquired by Syntec, and holds a patent as co-developer of Syntec’s HRDT technology.
Joe Mohr started his career at Wordingham over 20 years ago, engineering and building optical components. Joe’s diverse background in Manufacturing Engineering of mechanical components for optics, along with his experience with design for manufacturability and process improvements, enable him to be an effective leader of Wordingham Technologies. He brings a continuous improvement philosophy to Syntec and Wordingham with an emphasis on customer satisfaction. Joe is responsible for the daily manufacturing at our facility and looks to implement process improvements and to expand our product offerings and facilities.
Dr. Robert Parada joined Syntec in 2014 as VP of Operations. From 2015 till 2017, he led Syntec’s customer product development division which encompasses manufacturing engineering, program management, tooling design, optical and opto-mechanical design, and optical thin film coating. He launched and scaled Syntec’s coating lab for R&D. Before joining Syntec, Rob held numerous R&D leadership roles at Eastman Kodak Company and was VP of Engineering at a high-technology panoramic imaging company. He received his BS degree in Imaging Science from RIT, his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona, and a second doctoral degree in optics from the Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale in France.