Rockley Photonics CEO and leadership

Mahesh Karanth is the chief financial officer. He is responsible for leading Rockley Photonics’ finance, legal and IT teams. Mahesh is a performance-driven financial executive with extensive experience in growth-oriented technology companies. He has a proven track record in raising financing, implementing IPOs and completing complex financial transactions. Mahesh was most recently Chief Financial Officer for Enlightened Inc., an enterprise developing advanced lighting control systems. Prior to this, he was CFO for Invensense, a pioneer in MEMS sensor technology, where he led the company’s expansion of finance, administration and operations leading up to its IPO in 2010. Prior to Invensense, Mahesh was the CFO for Telsima, which was successfully sold to Harris Stratex Networks. During the preceding nine-year period at Compaq, Mahesh held several senior roles including M&A, treasury and corporate development. He executed five large acquisitions over that period, set up multiple international operations and filed S1 to take Japan subsidiaries public on Nikkei stock exchange. After Compaq’s acquisition by HP, he led corporate development for the customer services group and several major services acquisitions of public listed companies in India and UK. He started his career at Ernst and Young, working in Singapore, Japan and India, progressing to partner. Mahesh holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Commerce & Finance, certifications as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Corporate Secretary, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Aaron Zilkie is the CTO of Photonics and a Co-Founder.

Aaron led the early core photonic platform development at Rockley Photonics and currently leads Rockley’s internal technology/R&D team developing novel integrated photonics technologies for high-growth product solutions. He is also responsible for the IP portfolio development.

Aaron offers over 22 years of experience and leadership in technology innovation, R&D, new product development, and IP portfolio development in a broad range of optics and photonics application areas including biosensing, healthcare monitoring, 3D imaging, LiDAR, data communications, high-performance computing, and fiber optic networks.

Prior to Rockley, Aaron served as Technical Program Manager at Kotura/Mellanox Technologies, where he led development of the silicon photonics hybrid laser technology. Prior to that, he was a Senior Optical Scientist at Oclaro, Inc., where he was lead engineer for new product introduction of a variety of optical modules and helped lead the development of new products from early phase through production ramp.

Aaron holds over 40 granted U.S. patents, has authored numerous journal publications and white papers, and has given numerous invited conference presentations on Rockley’s technology.

Aaron has a Ph.D. and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (Photonics) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba.

Amit Nagra is the chief operating officer for Rockley Photonics. He is responsible for leading core IP, device and chip design, and process development in the areas of silicon photonics and analog and mixed-signal electronics. He is responsible for establishing and managing the internal operations, as well as the external value chain, to bring leading-edge solutions to market. Amit also leads the human resources, facilities and administration teams.

Mahesh Karanth is the chief financial officer. He is responsible for leading Rockley Photonics’ finance, legal and IT teams. Mahesh is a performance-driven financial executive with extensive experience in growth-oriented technology companies. He has a proven track record in raising financing, implementing IPOs and completing complex financial transactions. Mahesh was most recently Chief Financial Officer for Enlightened Inc., an enterprise developing advanced lighting control systems. Prior to this, he was CFO for Invensense, a pioneer in MEMS sensor technology, where he led the company’s expansion of finance, administration and operations leading up to its IPO in 2010. Prior to Invensense, Mahesh was the CFO for Telsima, which was successfully sold to Harris Stratex Networks. During the preceding nine-year period at Compaq, Mahesh held several senior roles including M&A, treasury and corporate development. He executed five large acquisitions over that period, set up multiple international operations and filed S1 to take Japan subsidiaries public on Nikkei stock exchange. After Compaq’s acquisition by HP, he led corporate development for the customer services group and several major services acquisitions of public listed companies in India and UK. He started his career at Ernst and Young, working in Singapore, Japan and India, progressing to partner. Mahesh holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Commerce & Finance, certifications as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Corporate Secretary, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Aaron Zilkie is the CTO of Photonics and a Co-Founder.

Aaron led the early core photonic platform development at Rockley Photonics and currently leads Rockley’s internal technology/R&D team developing novel integrated photonics technologies for high-growth product solutions. He is also responsible for the IP portfolio development.

Aaron offers over 22 years of experience and leadership in technology innovation, R&D, new product development, and IP portfolio development in a broad range of optics and photonics application areas including biosensing, healthcare monitoring, 3D imaging, LiDAR, data communications, high-performance computing, and fiber optic networks.

Prior to Rockley, Aaron served as Technical Program Manager at Kotura/Mellanox Technologies, where he led development of the silicon photonics hybrid laser technology. Prior to that, he was a Senior Optical Scientist at Oclaro, Inc., where he was lead engineer for new product introduction of a variety of optical modules and helped lead the development of new products from early phase through production ramp.

Aaron holds over 40 granted U.S. patents, has authored numerous journal publications and white papers, and has given numerous invited conference presentations on Rockley’s technology.

Aaron has a Ph.D. and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (Photonics) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba.

Amit Nagra is the chief operating officer for Rockley Photonics. He is responsible for leading core IP, device and chip design, and process development in the areas of silicon photonics and analog and mixed-signal electronics. He is responsible for establishing and managing the internal operations, as well as the external value chain, to bring leading-edge solutions to market. Amit also leads the human resources, facilities and administration teams.