François Séguin
President and founder
François Bertrand
General manager
Benoit Reid
Chief technology officer
George Ujhegyi
Director of operations
FRANÇOIS SÉGUIN, M.SC.A.
President and founder
Customer project management
Packaging and reliability
Photonics design
Manufacturing equipment design
François has over 35 years of high-reliability photonic product development experience. He started his career in 1986 at Canadian Marconi Company as Development Engineer in the Electro-Optics group of the Avionics division. Two years later, while working at CMC, he completed his Master’s degree in Engineering Physics at École Polytechnique de Montréal. He perfected his photonics R&D skills in the aerospace and military sectors for 10 years, developing airborne LIDARs and various fiber and integrated optics sensors. He then joined EG&G for 3 years, contributing to high-reliability optoelectronic packaging development for laser diodes and APDs. An 8-year tenure followed at ITF Technologies, where he left his mark as VP R&D, leading a team of 35 engineers and technicians, establishing several technologies and novel fiber optic components and systems for high-reliability telecom, aerospace and industrial applications. François joined IR Photonics in 2006 as VP Engineering, developing mid-IR optical fibers and various related products for spectroscopy, processing and airborne directed infrared countermeasures. He launched XVP Photonics in 2008.
François’s track record for innovation and problem solving originates from a rare combination of analytical rigor, methodical thinking and creative intuition. Born into an artistic family, he inherited a passion for drawing and playing the classical guitar. Launching XVP came from a need to be continuously challenged, innovate, solve problems, and develop new products as a creative outlet.
François embodies XVP’s commitment to contribute expertise, creativity and common sense to successful customer projects.
FRANÇOIS BERTRAND
General manager
Proven business growth track record
Extensive profit and loss (P&L) management experience
Seasoned contractual negotiator
Strong leadership and team building abilities
François Bertrand has spent 35 years working in small- and medium-sized technology companies offering products to a worldwide audience. After graduating from École Polytechnique in engineering physics, he worked at Matrox Electronics, where he started as an Application Engineer. He concluded his Matrox tenure as Vice-President of Sales and Marketing of Matrox Imaging in November 2011. At that time, Matrox Imaging generated more than 80 MUSD in business. François’ responsibilities included technical product management, building and managing an international sales organization, pre- and post-sales support organizations, as well as product planning for Matrox’s manufacturing group.
François also worked as Vice-President of Business Development at SynergX, a global supplier of automated optical inspection technology for the glass industry, and at Hardent, a video compression ASIC-development company and Xilinx FPGA Authorized business partner. Hardent was later sold to Rambus of San Jose in May 2022.
François’ ability to interact with international clients, recruit sales talent and manage complex sales situations have been instrumental in providing foundational growth to the companies he joined. With a sound business acumen, strongly influenced by servicing world-leading clients in imaging, machine vision, AI, and optical inspection, he has the ability and leadership required to grow organizations. This is a timely match given XVP’s current trajectory and world-class technical aptitudes in photonics. François also enjoys travel, biking and being a home chef.
BENOIT REID
Chief technology officer
Concurrent team and project management
Photonic product design and manufacturing ramp-up
Design for reliability, quality and qualification requirements
Product and technology roadmap development
Benoit Reid has more than 25 years of experience in the design, qualification and manufacturing of lasers, laser systems and optical components, and their use in various fields. He has held positions in product development and management at EG&G, Nortel Networks, Bookham Technology, PyroPhotonics Lasers, Electro-Scientific Industries (ESI), ITF Technologies, Reflex Photonics and Smiths Interconnect.
Benoit has been involved from inception to manufacturing ramp-up in developing several photonic products that have been successfully deployed worldwide in telecom/datacom, in laser-based high-volume manufacturing, in space and on military aircrafts. During his career, he has developed or designed in various applications most types of lasers from the smallest directly-modulated semiconductor lasers to the most powerful kilowatt-based fiber lasers, as well as femto-, pico- and nano- second pulsed lasers, and the now antiquated gas lasers.
After earning a Bachelor’s and Ph.D. in Engineering Physics from École Polytechnique de Montréal, Benoit became a post-doctoral fellow at NRC Canada in laser-ultrasonics. Author and co-author of more than a dozen papers, he is a named inventor on more than 20 international patents. At XVP, Benoit is responsible for leading the technical team to develop the best solutions for our customers. He is also responsible for bringing new technology platforms to serve a broader range of customers. Benoit enjoys exploring the wilderness, hiking and camping in his spare time.
GEORGE UJHEGYI
Director of operations
Electronic assembly
Process development
Quality and conformance testing
Project and resource management
George started his career in R&D Electronics in 1995, working for EG&G on process development, test and technology transfers of semiconductor laser diodes. In 2000, he moved to Alfalight, a laser diode module manufacturer, where he set up and managed the production line. When the company was restructured, George moved to Classé Audio where he worked for 15 years. A technician by training, George’s talent, skills and strong work ethic eventually led to a position as General Manager of the company for a period of 6 years. He then joined XVP as Director of Operations in 2017, where he installed a new infrastructure and a new network of collaborators, enabling XVP to grow and offer new capabilities in electronics design and manufacturing.
George’s contributions go well beyond management skills. Backed by solid expertise in electronics and photonics, he can plan and execute design, manufacturing, process development, procurement, qualification and production transfer. His planning and execution approach is both global and meticulous, enabling him to deliver on any project with a constant and upbeat can-do attitude.
This mindset goes beyond his professional life. On weekends, you will find him either building or improving something around him or giving in to his passion for assembling and flying model aircraft.