SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announced that Kent Rochford will be the new CEO. Rochford follows Eugene Arthurs, who will retire from SPIE on June 2.

Rochford is a longtime SPIE member, and most recently was associate director for laboratory programs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Rochford joined the institute in 1992 as a postdoctoral research associate. He holds a PhD in optical sciences from the University of Arizona, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.

Based in Bellingham, SPIE is an educational not-for-profit organization founded in 1955 to advance light-based science, engineering and technology. It serves nearly 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, offering conferences and their published proceedings. In 2017, SPIE provided more than $4 million in support of education and outreach programs.