Photonics21 President Dr. Michael Mertin has announced that he will not be available for re-election as president of the platform by the end of his second two year term in November 2016. In a letter to the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders members he outlined, “Now, after two terms, I have decided not to run for re-election in November 2016 in order to uphold the democratic spirit and make room for a successor with fresh ideas to embrace the future”.
As regards the further development of Photonics21 and its objectives Mertin stated, “Moving forward, however, we need to embrace a future in which photonics must be well-positioned to boost the European economy and play a key role in facilitating the megatrend digitization. Another aspect, which requires the continuation of our close relationships with representatives from the European Commission, is to reduce the regulatory overreach that harms the whole European industry and to recalibrate the allocation of financial resources to projects that really aim at increasing Europe’s competitive advantage and economic strength.”
Dr. Mertin will remain a member of the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders.
As regards the upcoming Photonics21 President election 2016 an open and transparent process has been established to find an appropriate successor. The process will be steered by the Photonics21 Executive Board. Based on the good experience from the 2012 President election the Executive Board applies the same procedure and principles and has established an Executive Board Nomination Committee. The Nomination Committee will apply defined selection criteria and interview potential candidates.
Like in 2012 only one Photonics21 President candidate will be put up to the Board of Stakeholders for vote as a result of the Nomination Committee selection process. This is to avoid “loss of face” for a C-level person to be voted down. For the same reason any Photonics21 Presidency candidate proposals received will be treated confidentially by the Nomination Committee.
Request for Proposals: Photonics21 President Candidate 2016-18
The Executive Board cordially asks the Photonics21 membership to send proposals for Photonics21 President candidates by 30th June 2016.
Proposals should use this template and be sent to: secretariat@photonics21.org .
All proposals will be treated confidential.
The terms and time to be allocated for Photonics21 President 2016-2018 is as follows:
- Term: 2 years (re-election possible)
- Time to be allocated as a Photonics21 President to Photonics21 / PPP activities.
- President: 6 days/year plus additional phone calls as requested
- Support person / assistant: 10-15 days
Following selection criteria will be applied for the Photonics21 President Candidate 2016 – 2018:
Company:
- Household company name preferred
- Link of the company to the photonics field should be obvious
- If the company represents various photonics areas, it is regarded as a plus
Person:
- Good communicator, able to operate in political circles
- High ranked (C-level, e.g. CEO, CTO, COO)
- Support from the company guaranteed
The Executive Board Nomination Committee is composed of:
- Giorgio Anania
- Bernd Schulte
- Roberta Ramponi
- Thomas Rettich
- Mike Wale
You can download an overview on the further process.