Crystal IS, a developer of the most effective UVC LEDs, today announced the appointment of John Gartner as its first vice president of operations. Gartner brings more than thirty years of experience in manufacturing and engineering, including establishing and growing manufacturing operations for clean and reliable energy solutions. His expertise and experience will help transition Crystal IS from R&D to a manufacturing company poised to become the market leader in UVC LEDs for life sciences, environmental monitoring and disinfection.

“It is clear that Crystal IS has committed to moving from R&D to commercial product development,” said John Gartner, vice president of operations, Crystal IS. “I’m thrilled to be part of the team leading the company in this exciting time.”

In conjunction with the addition of Gartner, Crystal IS continues to expand the Green Island facility preparing it for full scale production and shipping of soon to be announced Optan product with the addition of:

• a raw material furnace as well as three additional furnaces and a chiller to double manufacturing capacity
• a new lab and production equipment for fine wafer polishing
• moving fabrication in-house to the AK Fuji facility
• twenty-three percent employee growth across the organization in areas including application engineering, quality, customer support and product marketing

“Our move from R&D to commercial production was inevitable,” said Larry Felton, chief executive officer. “Appointing John Gartner as our first vice president of operations and expanding our manufacturing capacity demonstrates our commitment to commercializing our superior technology and getting our breakthrough products to customers.”