Optica Leadership Departs

As predicted, Elizabeth Rogan, CEO since 2002 of the Optica Foundation (formerly the Optical Society of America), and the foundation’s Director, Chad Stark, have departed amidst Congressional investigations into Optica’s (and OSA’s) long alliance with Huawei and their apparent attempts to muddy the waters around donations accepted through a prize competition.

Once again, Bloomberg broke the story.

Liz Nolan, Deputy Executive Director and Chief Publishing Officer, has been named interim CEO.

There are hints these departures were done in a bit of haste. For instance, the page listing Rogan’s information has been unceremoniously deleted, with this showing as of 4 p.m. ET yesterday:

Rogan was recognized as an OSA Fellow “for outstanding long-term management at OSA and leadership across the optics and photonics community.” A directory page listing her as a Fellow is still on Optica’s site, but was apparently hastily scrubbed.

The page was last updated August 24, 2024 — last Saturday — when it appears it was stripped of information:

Compare the page from April 24, 2024, as stored at the Wayback Machine:

As part of his departure, Stark has been removed from the Executive Staff page, as well.

It seemed pretty clear earlier this month that things were headed in this direction after answers from Optica didn’t all square up when put under the microscope. Rogan’s “under-the-radar” (Bloomberg’s phrasing) visit to Huawei last November was probably the last straw. Because of this, it became pretty clear her days were numbered, as I wrote on August 1st:

My guess is that Rogan won’t last the year, and that Optica will have to clean house and more to make amends for what has transpired.

The apparent and not entirely gentle rush to get a transition done this month strikes me as something right out of the damage control playbook — get the ugly stuff done in the summer, when people aren’t really paying that much attention.

• It’s the right way to do it if you’re seeking to bind a wound.
  • The only missing ingredient is that the news leaked on a Monday — my guess is that Optica’s Comms people were hoping to announce it this Friday around 5 p.m.

Congressional members of the Science Committee investigating the entanglements between Optica and Huawei were quick to issue a statement:

We are encouraged that Optica is now taking decisive steps on this matter. Accepting and anonymizing funds from a sanctioned Chinese company is wholly inappropriate. International collaboration on sensitive research topics must be undertaken with the utmost risk awareness and transparency. China’s tactics will continue to evolve, and it is imperative that stakeholders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors maintain the highest standards to meet the ever-changing threat environment.

This feels like the second act of a movie that has still not reached a satisfactory conclusion. The Congressional investigation is ongoing, and more shoes may yet drop.

In the meantime, China has been found to be hacking at US Internet infrastructure, and TikTok is still under legally binding pressure to go to a US owner. China has not become what we once hoped it might transform itself into.

When it comes to these story threads, my sense is . . . that’s not all, folks.