William A. Barletta is a Professor of Physics at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been an Associate Laboratory Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Director of the US Particle Accelerator School.

Harry J. Levinson is currently an independent lithography consultant and Principal Lithographer at HJL Lithography. He is also currently an advisor for Silicon Catalyst. Levinson has spent most of his career working in the field of lithography, starting at AMD.

Brennan Peterson is Vice President of Test and Measurement at PsiQuantum Corp.

Jim Wiley is an experienced semiconductor, photomask and community leader. He has particular experience in EUV Lithography, Market Analysis, Semiconductor Lithography, Photomask Manufacturing, Computational Lithography and Early-stage Startups.

Sanjay Natarajan has over 32 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, all of it in R&D for high-performance CMOS technology. He was a Senior Vice President at Intel Corporation and the General Manager of Intel Foundry Technology Research & External R&D Engagements group at Intel Corporation. He was responsible for Intel's internal semiconductor research, external engagements with Universities and Consortia, and government engagements worldwide related to semiconductor R&D.

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Prior to that, he was the General Manager of Intel's Logic Technology Development Division, responsible for developing all of Intel's logic technology nodes. During his 32-year career in the semiconductor R&D industry, Sanjay led the development of Intel's 14nm process technology, and prior to that, he led development of Intel's industry-leading 32nm process technology. In addition to Intel, Sanjay has held senior executive positions at Applied Materials, where he led a group developing new types of semiconductor equipment focused on extending Moore’s Law. Sanjay has also been a Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at Portland State University.

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He serves on the Advisory Board to the Dean of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and previously served on the Advisory Council for the National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate. He is an IEEE member and received his BS, MS, PhD in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Jacqueline is an Operating Partner focused on government & external affairs at Playground Global, an early-stage, deep tech venture capital firm, where she is responsible for educating and advising Playground and its portfolio companies on international, federal, and state government policy and helping craft strategies for portfolio companies on non-dilutive funding pathways, dual-use market opportunities, regulatory positioning, and policy-related advocacy.

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In addition to building the global government and external affairs practice at Playground, she serves as an executive board member for the Silicon Valley Defense Group; an advisor to the Shield Group, Common Mission Project, PsiQuantum, xLight, and Usul; an adjunct professor at Georgetown University; and a special government advisor to the Department of Defense.

Dr. Neil has 38 years of experience in plasma physics, accelerator technology, optical technology, and Free Electron Lasers (FELs). He most recently served as Principal Scientist of Jefferson Laboratory. Dr. Neil’s primary responsibility at Jefferson Lab was to advance the technology of particle accelerators and high power laser systems, develop high power FEL technology, and to manage the beam research and user operation of the facility for basic and applied studies in a safe and scientifically productive way.

Stuart has served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), a role he began in March 2023. In this position, he drove the growth and innovation of Intel’s systems foundry offerings, which extend beyond traditional chip manufacturing to include advanced packaging, chiplet standards, software integration, and regional capacity in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to this, he was Intel’s Chief Business Transformation Officer and head of the Corporate Planning Group, where he was instrumental in driving the company’s IDM 2.0 strategy.

Faran has been a semiconductor technologist, an entrepreneur, an investor and board member. She is currently a General Partner at America's Frontier Fund. Prior to AFF, she was a Vice President at Lam Research and a founding member of Lam Capital, where she oversaw the creation of the fund and its investment portfolio, which led to multiple exits via IPO and acquisitions. Prior to her VC career, Faran spent two decades in semiconductor industry where she developed commercially successful products at both startups and Fortune 500 companies.

Chris Miller's latest book Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology  reveals the geopolitical impact of the computer chip. It is a New York Times bestseller and a winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2024 History Prize. It was featured on many “Best of 2022” book lists, including in the New Yorker and the Economist.

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Dr. Miller is professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank in Washington, D.C.

Dinh Nguyen serves as the Lead for FEL Physics and Undulator Technologies at xLight. Prior to joining the company, he was a Senior Scientist at SLAC and Los Alamos National Laboratories where he developed a number of important technologies on lasers, photocathodes, high-brightness electron beams and free-electron lasers.

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Dinh Nguyen is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the International Free-Electron Laser Conference Executive Committee, and the recipient of the 2017 International FEL Prize. He has taught Free-Electron Laser courses at the US Particle Accelerator School several times. Dinh Nguyen received his Bachelor of Science with Honor at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, both in Chemistry.

Christopher Mayes is the Director of FEL at xLight. Before assuming his role at xLight, Christopher spent six years as a staff scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Christopher started his career at the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education, where he served in various roles for 11 years.

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Christopher earned his Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics with Highest Honors from the College of William and Mary, and both his Master of Science and Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University.

Gennady Stupakov serves as Chief Scientist at xLight. Prior to joining the company, he was a Senior Scientist and Group Leader at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the recipient of the 2019 International FEL Prize, the 2022 USPAS Prize, and the 2024 IEEE PAST Award. Gennady has authored more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and is co-author of a textbook on accelerator physics. He also regularly teaches accelerator physics courses at the U.S. Particle Accelerator School.

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He earned his Master of Science degree from Novosibirsk State University in Russia, and his Candidate of Science and Doctor of Science degrees from the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk.

Ben spent over 15 years in the United States government. Although Ben began his career in the private sector, he resigned from a management position in consulting to join the U.S. Navy after 9/11. Ben spent almost a decade as an Intelligence Officer. He then served in AmeriCorps and as Professional Staff Member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He retired from federal service as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

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Prior to xLight, Ben spent approximately two years at Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). He also worked for the RAND Corporation and the Institute for Security and Technology.

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Ben earned a B.A. in political science and international relations, cum laude, at Carleton College, a masters in National Security & Strategic Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, and both a masters and a doctorate in political science at the University of Colorado Boulder. Additionally, Ben is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins SAIS — Nanjing University Center. He lives in Silicon Valley with his wife and their three children.

Bruce Dunham is Vice President of Accelerator Systems at xLight. Prior to xLight, Bruce was a Distinguished Scientist at the Nevada National Security Sites, working on issues critical for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).  Before supporting NNSA’s work, Bruce spent seven years at the SLAC Accelerator Laboratory, most recently serving as Accelerator Director and Associate Lab Director. 

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Bruce spent a decade in academia before entering the national lab ecosystem, serving as the Director of Research and Development at CLASSE, the Cornell University Laboratory for Accelerator Sciences and Education. Bruce started his career at General Electric Healthcare, where he worked for 10 years on computed tomography systems. 

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Bruce earned his Master of Science in Engineering Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Andrew Burrill is Vice President of Engineering and Industrialization at xLight. Before joining xLight, Andrew spent the last 20 years at Department of Energy National Labs across the country as well as working in Germany at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, a world class research center for energy materials research. 

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In his previous roles Andrew has worked on multiple large scale accelerator construction projects including LCLS-II at SLAC and the CEBAF 12 GeV upgrade at Jefferson Lab.  His focus has been on deployment of superconducting RF accelerators and project management of projects up to $1B.  

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 Andrew earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the State University of NY at Stony Brook. 

Chris Anderson is the Vice President of Photon Systems at xLight. Before joining the company, Chris spent 15 years in various roles at the Center for X-Ray Optics, Berkeley Lab. As a Staff Scientist at Berkley Lab, Chris developed nanolithography systems and user programs for EUV materials research. Specifically, he managed an industry-funded EUV lithography user program through 2X expansion and 15k materials tested, and developed and implemented current generation EUV lithography system enabling 10A node materials research. 

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Prior to his work at Berkeley Lab, Chris spent five years as a Research Assistant at UC Berkeley where he performed original research, analysis, and computer modeling in EUV lithography. Chris started his career as a Research Assistant at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he performed original research in in non-linear optics.  

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Chris earned his Bachelor of Science in Optical Engineering at the University of California, his Master of Science in Optical Engineering from the University of Arizona, and his Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Kevin has worked in the semiconductor industry for 28 years with a focus on semiconductor process and process integration, capital equipment, manufacturing systems, and related products and services. Kevin was formerly employed at Onto Innovation (the merger of Nanometrics Inc and Rudolph Technologies in 2019) holding the title of SVP, Corporate Development & Marketing. 

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Prior to Onto, Kevin was employed at Nanometrics Incorporated, from April 2006 holding the title of SVP Marketing & Business Development. He was responsible for product marketing, corporate strategy, and M&A. Kevin began his career working in process engineering at Intel Corporation and spent 10 years working in Intel's Logic Technology Development group in Portland Oregon. 

Nicholas serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of xLight. Before assuming his roles, Nicholas led the development effort to build the world’s first useful quantum computer at PsiQuantum.

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Nicholas spent 20 years in the Department of Energy National Lab system building and operating large scale, x-ray science facilities and instrumentation. Starting at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, he developed novel instrumentation and upgrades for the Advanced Light Source (ALS) and Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) user facilities. He then moved to SLAC National Lab at Stanford where he was the Chief Engineer for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a 3-mile-long x-ray free electron facility for ultrafast science.

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Nicholas is a native of California and attended the University of California, Berkeley.

Pat Gelsinger is a visionary engineer and values-driven leader with over 45 years of experience shaping Silicon Valley as a CEO, CTO, and technologist. He has played a pivotal role in developing foundational technologies in semiconductors, microprocessors, and industry standards during his time at Intel, EMC, and VMware.

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Today, Pat is a General Partner at Playground Global, a deep tech venture capital firm managing $1.2 billion in assets. Pat also sits on the board of Gloo, a platform supporting the faith and flourishing ecosystem. In addition, he contributes to several faith-based philanthropies. Pat is also a speaker, author, inventor, and investor—as well as a husband, father of four, and grandfather of eight.