LEDs & SSL Design

LEDs Magazine 40 Under 40 Profile: Michael Demas

July 24, 2020

Michael Demas has grown in experience alongside Fusion Optix, which he joined at age 22.

MICHAEL DEMAS. (Photo credit: Image courtesy of Fusion Optix.)

Michael Demas has more than 14 years of experience in the lighting industry. He joined Fusion Optix in 2006 as a 22-year-old applied physicist and research technician when the company was a small team located next to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Demas has since moved up in roles that enabled the company to grow its business capabilities, production capacity, and product offerings — such that Fusion Optix now spans a 35,000-ft² factory and counts hundreds of LED lighting OEMs as its customers.

According to his nominator, Demas has also been instrumental in driving innovation, as a key contributor to dozens of patents; as a leader of customer NPI programs; and as a driving force in new equipment and production processes. “He is equally adept at trouble shooting LED module assembly equipment as he is with polymer extrusion processes,” wrote the nominator.

As vice president of operations, he continues to rely upon his manufacturing, fulfillment, and supply chain experience to lead his team to new efficiencies and processes for new product introductions. Demas spent the earliest part of his career in various engineering and product development capacities at Sperry Product Innovation and Gibbard Research and Development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in applied physics, with a minor in mathematics, from Providence College.

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About the Author

Carrie Meadows | Editor-in-Chief, LEDs Magazine

Carrie Meadows has more than 20 years of experience in the publishing and media industry. She worked with the PennWell Technology Group for more than 17 years, having been part of the editorial staff at Solid State Technology, Microlithography World, Lightwave, Portable Design, CleanRooms, Laser Focus World, and Vision Systems Design before the group was acquired by current parent company Endeavor Business Media.

Meadows has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards, and has volunteered as a judge on several B2B editorial awards committees. She received a BA in English literature from Saint Anselm College, and earned thesis honors in the college's Geisel Library. Without the patience to sit down and write a book of her own, she has gladly undertaken the role of editor for the writings of friends and family.

Meadows enjoys living in the beautiful but sometimes unpredictable four seasons of the New England region, volunteering with an animal shelter, reading (of course), and walking with friends and extended "dog family" in her spare time.

About the Author

Maury Wright | Editor in Chief

Maury Wright is an electronics engineer turned technology journalist, who has focused specifically on the LED & Lighting industry for the past decade. Wright first wrote for LEDs Magazine as a contractor in 2010, and took over as Editor-in-Chief in 2012. He has broad experience in technology areas ranging from microprocessors to digital media to wireless networks that he gained over 30 years in the trade press. Wright has experience running global editorial operations, such as during his tenure as worldwide editorial director of EDN Magazine, and has been instrumental in launching publication websites going back to the earliest days of the Internet. Wright has won numerous industry awards, including multiple ASBPE national awards for B2B journalism excellence, and has received finalist recognition for LEDs Magazine in the FOLIO Eddie Awards. He received a BS in electrical engineering from Auburn University.