The 2023 SPIE president Bernard Kress, director of XR hardware at Google, made the announcement along with other SPIE election results at this year's annual general meeting of the Society on 22 August, during SPIE Optics + Photonics. Terms begin on 1 January 2024.

Bentley, a professor at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, is a recognized expert in designing lenses and optical systems, as well as a much-lauded instructor. She is the 2022 recipient of the university’s Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award, as well as a 2014 recipient of the university’s Goergen Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 2019, she received the RRPC Education Award from the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster. She is also a private consultant and holds four patents in optical design and engineering.

An SPIE Fellow Member since 2012, Bentley has had extensive involvement with the Society. Aside from her popular SPIE courses, she served on the SPIE Board of Directors 2014-17; has served on the Scholarship, IT, Education, Awards, and Publications Committees; has chaired the Joseph W. Goodman Book Writing Award, and has co-authored two books for SPIE Press, Field Guide to Lens Design and Designing Optics Using CODE V. In 2010, she was featured in the SPIE Women in Optics planner, and, in 2022, Bentley received the SPIE Directors’ Award, one of the Society’s highest honors.

Alongside Bentley, Jennifer Barton, director of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona, will serve as the 2024 SPIE president while Zygo’s Peter de Groot will serve as president-elect.

The following newly elected Society Directors will serve three-year terms from 2024-2026:

• Samuel Achilefu, professor and chair of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s department of biomedical engineering.
• Agnes Hübscher, Edmund Optics’ senior director of global strategic marketing.
• Daewook Kim, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences.
• Michelle Stock, TracInnovations’ director of business development and sales, North America.