Sumesh Thiyagarajan

Sumesh Thiyagarajan has extensive experience in manufacturing operations and engineering. Sumesh has held leadership positions in various companies, including being the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and Engineering at Luna Innovations since 2020. In this role, they manage the profit and loss of two sites and leads cross-functional teams to deliver photonic components and subsystems to customers in industries such as automotive, medical, aerospace, and defense. Prior to their current role, Sumesh served as the Senior Director of Operations/Manufacturing Engineering at MACOM from 2018 to 2020, where they successfully transitioned a new business unit into scalable operations and achieved significant improvements in metrics, including yield and cycle time. Sumesh also held the position of Director of Manufacturing & NPI Operations/Product Engineering at Lumentum from 2015 to 2017, where they led a team in achieving high revenues and implementing cost reduction strategies. Sumesh's earlier experiences include roles at JDSU, Symantec, Finisar, and Novalux Inc, where they demonstrated their expertise in project management, vendor management, and improving operational efficiency.

Sumesh Thiyagarajan has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, which was obtained from 1994 to 2001. Prior to that, they earned an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, from 1992 to 1994. Their undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering, a B.S., was obtained from Anna University between 1988 and 1992. These are their formal educational qualifications. In addition, they have also completed a Leadership Development Program from the Center for Creative Leadership in 2017 and obtained a Certificate in Lean Six Sigma from Philips Lighting in 2010.