Board of Directors

Dr. Michael S. Lebby has deep experience running and leading technology companies, especially those developing, manufacturing and productizing new platform technologies.  Dr. Lebby’s experience includes research, development, volume scale, marketing, sales, finance, and corporate activities both with management as well as at a board director level.  Dr. Lebby’s technical acumen stems from his entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills working throughout his career in both large corporate organizations as well as venture backed start-ups and public companies. After joining LWLG’s Board of Directors in 2015, and leading the corporation as CEO in 2017, Dr. Lebby successfully navigated LWLG from OTCQ to the NASDAQ through an organic uplisting with the rare situation of no reverse splits or associated public offering in 2021.  The new technology platform that Dr. Lebby is driving at LWLG has the potential to change the way the internet operates and performs both from a performance as well as power efficiency perspective.

Dr. Lebby is considered an expert in the technological fields of semiconductors, electronics, optoelectronics/photonics, and optical systems in general.  Dr. Lebby has built world class teams not only to productize new and novel technology platforms from research concepts through development to production, but also in sales, marketing, human relations, legal, and finance. Dr. Lebby’s career started with the British Government in 1977 in telecommunications and he did research at their prestigious research labs (RSRE Malvern) in the early 1980s and worked at AT&T Bell Labs (1985-1989) in photonics. At Motorola in the 1990s he drove the development, including the first patent co-authorship of the oxide VCSEL diode laser which is now used in laser mice, 3D sensing/FaceID in mobile phones and optical interconnects with volumes of over 1B units today.

From 2005-2010 he led the USA trade association in optoelectronics (OIDA) and represented and petitioned on behalf of the optoelectronics industry on Capitol Hill for major multi-national corporations. Dr. Lebby has run and led several technological start-ups such as Ignis Optics, One Chip Photonics, Translucent Photonics as well as groups in Motorola, Tyco Electronics, AT&T, Intel and others. Dr. Lebby has nurtured innovative technology through building a range of customers from small business enterprises to multi-national corporations.  Dr. Lebby was voted PIC (Photonic Integrated Circuit) business leader of the year by the industry-based PIC International Conference in 2018. He is a technical expert to the European Commission, and a Fellow of NAI, IEEE and Optica.  He also is Chair-elect of Optic’s Corporate Engagement Counsel, a board of industry representatives to further business activity in the sector.

Mr. Marcelli has serves as Lightwave Logic, Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer, and he was named our Secretary in March 2018. Previously, from August 2008 to April 2012, Mr. Marcelli served as Lightwave’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Marcelli is in charge of the day-to-day operations of Lightwave, and also serves as its principal financial officer. Over the last thirty five years, he has served as the president and chief executive officer of multiple start-up and growth companies in high tech manufacturing and business services, including two companies that were founded by him. In addition, he has held senior management positions with several companies including Teradyne Corporation and Sanmina Corporation. Throughout his career, he has held positions in Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations and Finance. Mr. Marcelli served as a mentor for the National Science Foundation, NFS Innovation Program. Mr. Marcelli has served on the boards of several non-profit corporations and also served on the Advisory Board of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Engineering School.

Mr. LeMaitre brings over 30 years of executive experience in technology, corporate strategy and marketing to the Board of Directors. He currently serves as a Strategic Board Advisor to Trumpf Photonic Components, a global technology company specializing in the development of lasers for optics, and as a strategic advisor to the Optical, RF & MicroElectronics division of Sanmina AMT.

Mr. LeMaitre most recently served as CEO of Astrobeam.Space, where he launched the startup’s development of nextgeneration of laser beam steering for satellite to satellite communication. Previously, Mr. LeMaitre was the Head of the Optical Coherent Division of IPG Photonics, where he advised and oversaw the division’s divestiture to Lumentum. Prior to that, he was the SVP of Luna Innovations’ North America Business Operation (following the company’s acquisition of RIO Lasers where he served as President).

Previously, he spent 10 years in varying roles of increasing responsibility through multiple acquisitions with Oclaro (later acquired by Lumentum), ultimately achieving the roles of Chief Strategy Officer at Lumentum. During his time at OCLARO, he played a key role in positioning OCLARO as a leader in the optical connectivity business, driving the growth of Indium Phosphide lasers in the datacenter (now Generative AI front-end networks) segments.

He holds a degree from Télécom Paris and a “Maitrise” Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Nantes Université in France.

Mr. Bucchi joined the Lightwave Logic Board in June 2012, and he currently serves as the Chairperson of our Audit Committee, Lead Director Financial Expert, and a Member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Bucchi is currently a self employed C.P.A. with a specialized practice that concentrates in CEO consulting, strategic planning, mergers, acquisitions, business sales and tax. He works with domestic and international companies. Mr. Bucchi is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of First Connecticut Bancorp, Inc., serving on Asset Liability Committee, the Governance and Loan committees in addition to chairing the Audit committee. He is currently the Treasurer and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Petit Family Foundation, Inc. He has served on numerous other community boards and is past Chairman of the Wheeler Clinic and the Wheeler YMCA. He is a Member of the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Mr. Bucchi is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Executive Education program with completed course studies in general board governance, audit and compensation and a graduate of Central Connecticut State University where he received his B.S. in Accounting.

Mr. Siraj Nour El-Ahmadi joined the Lightwave Logic Board in October 2013 and currently serves as Chairperson of the Compensation Committee, a Member of the Operations Committee and a Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Since 2004, Mr. El-Ahmadi has served as Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Menara Networks, a developer of innovative products and solutions that simplify layered optical transport networks. Mr. El-Ahmadi has over 17 years of experience in optical transmission in particular and the telecom industry in general. Prior to founding Menara, Mr. El-Ahmadi served as Vice President-Marketing & Product Management at Nortel where he was responsible for the OPTera LH 4000 ULR product (acquired from Qtera) that achieved over $200M in revenues in its first two years. Prior to that, Mr. El-Ahmadi was the Product Architect & Vice President of Product Management at Qtera Corporation, a successful technology start-up acquired by Nortel in 2000 for $3.25 billion. Mr. El-Ahmadi also held a Senior Manager position at Bell Northern Research and worked as a Transmission Engineer at WilTel (WorldCom) where he evaluated and deployed the world first bidirectional EDFA and bi-directional WDM transmission. Mr. El-Ahmadi holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, is a Member of Eta Kappa Nu and is the inventor of 11 patents, issued or pending, in the area of optical communications. He has authored a number of publications and is a frequent speaker at telecom and optical networking events and conferences.

Dr. Frederick J. Leonberger joined the Lightwave Logic Board on April 1, 2017, and he currently serves as the Chairperson of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Member of the Compensation Committee, and Member of the Operations Committee. Since 2010, Dr. Leonberger has served as the Principal of EOvation Advisors LLC, a private technology and business advisory firm and presently serves as a board Member for various private photonics companies. Dr. Leonberger is a widely known technologist and industry leader in the field of photonics and fiber optics. For nearly 40 years he has been a leading contributor to the development of a variety of important optical devices, company leadership, product and business strategy, and commercialization. The integrated optical modulator technology he and his colleagues pioneered has been used pervasively for over 20 years to encode data at multi-Gb/s rates in long-haul fiber optic networks (the Internet “superhighways”). He previously served as senior vice president and chief technology officer of JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU, now Lumentum), a leading optical components company, from 1995 until his retirement in 2003, where he played a lead role in technology strategy, mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property activities. Prior to JDSU, he was co-founder and general manager of United Technologies Photonics (UTP), a high-speed optical modulator company, and held research management positions at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the recipient of several industry awards.

Dr. Craig Ciesla joined the Lightwave Logic Board on January 18, 2022, and currently serves on the Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Dr. Ciesla is currently the Vice President, Hardware Engineering at 10X Genomics, a life science technology company building products to interrogate, understand and master biology.  Prior to 10X he was Vice President and Head of Advanced Platforms and Devices at Illumina Inc., where he led a team driving innovation in sequencing platforms, microfluidics, and nanofabrication. Prior to Illumina, he held a variety of role in the fiber optics industry, including Intel, JDSU (now Lumentum), Bookham (now Lumentum), Ignis Optics, and Kaiam, where he was Vice President of Engineering, responsible for the development and production of 100G transceivers. He was also the founding CEO of Tactus Technology, an innovator in the user interface industry, where he was the co-inventor of Tactus’ polymer morphing screen technology. He started his career at Toshiba Research Europe, where he performed early terahertz images of skin cancer. Dr. Ciesla holds a BSc (Hons.) in Applied Physics and Ph.D. in Physics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

Laila Partridge joined the Lightwave Logic Board on August 1, 2023, and currently serves on the Audit Committee and a Member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Ms. Partridge brings over 30 years of executive experience in technology, corporate innovation and finance to the Board of Directors – having worked with a wide range of technologies, including telecommunications, internet infrastructure, AI, internet of things and more. She was named by Boston Business Journal as one of the ten “2017 Women to Watch in Science and Technology”. She currently serves as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The HardTech Project, a new venture with a novel approach to early-stage hardware investing. Previously, she was Managing Director of the STANLEY + Techstars Accelerator where she directed a global effort for Stanley Black & Decker’s Chief Technology Officer to identify and invest in innovative technologies for industrial applications with an emphasis on electrification, sustainability and advanced manufacturing. Prior to that, she began her technology career at Intel Capital, serving as a Director of Strategic Investments. Ms. Partridge began her career at Wells Fargo, where ultimately achieved the role of VP of Corporate Banking, having led complex corporate finance transactions for the Company’s senior secured debt agencies in the Midwest. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors from Wellesley College.

Tom Connelly, Jr. served as CEO of the American Chemical Society, one of the largest scientific societies with 170,000 members worldwide. Previously, he was Chief Innovation Officer of DuPont and a member of its Office of the Chief Executive. Among his responsibilities in chemicals and materials were the Performance Polymers and Packaging & Industrial Polymers businesses. He also served as Chief Science and Technology Officer, with responsibility across business units in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He joined DuPont in 1977, and played key roles in Delrin®, Kevlar®, Sorona® and Teflon®.

Dr. Connelly holds degrees in chemical engineering (highest honors) and economics from Princeton University, and as a Winston Churchill Scholar he received a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge. As a member of the National Academy of Engineering and its committees, he has been chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee for the Division on Earth and Life Studies. In addition, he has held advisory roles to the U.S. government and Republic of Singapore.