Michael Lebby
About Optica
Michael Lebby
GenusTechnik
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 is globally recognized as an expert witness in technology. With over 60 Federal court depositions that relate to optics, photonics, electronics and semiconductors, Dr.Lebby has represented many major technology companies in patent litigation that range from optics, lighting, optical communications, automotive lidar, sensing, displays, medical, storage, etc. 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. Dr. Lebby was a member of LWLG’s Board of Directors from 2015 to 2024 and chair from 2022,. Dr Lebby led the corporation as CEO in 2017 and 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 electro-optic polymer platform for optical modulators that Dr. Lebby was 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 and he gave many keynote talks and interviews to put the technology platform on international technology roadmaps. 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/structured light in mobile phones and short distance datacenter optical interconnects with estimated volumes of over many billion of 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, Lightwave Logic, 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 honored in October 2024 as ‘Photonics 100’ for 2025 by Electro Optics Publication. The award is based on exceptional contributions and achievements in the field of photonics. 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 (2024-2026) of Optica’s Corporate Engagement Counsel, a board of industry representatives to further business activity in the sector as well as a Board member of Optica. Dr. Lebby is CEO of GenusTechnik Inc., which assists companies on patent/IP, expert witness, and new leading-edge technologies.
