Optics giant Bookham names Couder president, CEO

Optics giant Bookham names Couder president, CEO San Jose-based Bookham Inc. has named Alain Couder as president and chief executive officer of the optic components giant.
   Couder replaces acting president and CEO Peter Bordui who had filling the roles since the departure earlier this year of Giorgio Anania following lackluster financial results brought on a major reorganization at the firm.
   Couder assumes his new offices Aug. 13, while Bordui will continue as chairman of the firm's board of directors.
   Prior to joining Bookham, Couder served as president and CEO of database services provider Solid Information Technology Inc. Before joining Solid, Couder was president and CEO of Confluent Software Inc., and IP Dynamics Inc., and served as chairman and CEO of Packard Bell NEC Inc.
   Founded in 1988 as a U.K. company, Bookham redomiciled to the United States in 2004 and is now a publicly traded company on NASDAQ. Bookham designs, manufactures and markets optical components and subsystems that enable broadband communications.
   In 2002, Bookham acquired the optical components businesses of Marconi/Plessey and Nortel Networks, reshaping the firm as one of the world's largest providers of fiber optic products. Further acquisitions and expansion have led to offices or production facilities in San Jose and Santa Rosa, Calif.; Ontario, Canada; Caswell and Paignton in the U.K.; Zurich, Switzerland; and Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China.