William H. "Bill" Shiner, recently retired from IPG Photonics Corp, passed away 7 May, after a short battle with cancer. He was 79.
An SPIE Member since 2010, Shiner was an SPIE author and presented several papers at Photonics West. Shiner was also well-known at the Photonics West Exhibition as vice president of industrial laser sales at IPG.
After earning a BS in electrical engineering and an MS in business administration at Northeastern University, Shiner began his professional career at American Optical Corporation where he progressed to applications laboratory manager in their laser products group. When AO decided to shut down the group, he and a partner purchased the company's laser division and co-founded Laser, Inc. in 1972.
After successfully growing the business through industrial laser applications in many of the country's top automobile and aviation companies, the company was sold to Coherent Inc. in 1978 and Shiner became vice president of sales and marketing. In 1995, Coherent was purchased by Convergent Prima where Shiner served as COO until 2002, when he moved on to IPG Photonics to help build their industrial laser division.
Throughout his career, Shiner was active in research and academic initiatives. He is credited with several patents in laser technology dating back to 1969 and as recently as 2015. He was a founding member of the Laser Institute of America (LIA), serving on its board for over 40 years and as its president in 2007. In 2009, he was recognized with the LIA's President's Award for his long-term contributions to the success of the of LIA.
LIA Today published a tribute to Shiner in their May/June issue.
