Dr Sobey has served as president of Coherent Corp’s lasers segment since the closing of the merger between II-VI and Coherent Inc in July 2022. Prior to the merger, Dr Sobey served as Coherent’s chief operating officer from 2020 to 2022.

He was previously executive vice president and general manager of Coherent Inc’s OEM laser sources until being promoted to COO, and before that he was executive vice president and general manager of specialty laser systems (SLS) from 2010 to 2016, and vice president and general manager of SLS from 2007 until 2010.

Prior to Coherent Dr Sobey spent over twenty years in the laser and fiber optics telecommunications industries, including senior vice president roles in product management at Cymer and in global sales at JDS Uniphase. He received his PhD in engineering and BSc in physics from the University of Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Scotland.