ROCHESTER, NY (September 18, 2020) – Rochester Precision Optics (RPO) is pleased to announce the promotion of Mike Davenport to President, effective 21 September. Mike most recently served as Vice President of Operations, a position to which a majority of the RPO employees directly reported. This promotion follows the recent announcement of Randy Shaw’s pending retirement. Randy Shaw will serve as a Senior Advisor to the President to ensure an efficient transition of leadership which supports continued organizational growth and exceptional customer service.
“I am truly excited to take this role and continue advancing RPO’s capabilities,” remarked Mike. “Over the past several years, I have seen this company evolve as a significant optical supplier. We have the right people, processes, products and capabilities to provide ever greater value to our defense and commercial customers in the future,” he went on to say.
Mike Davenport has substantial experience in manufacturing imaging and optical products for defense and commercial markets. Throughout his five-year tenure as Vice President of Operations, Mike has been instrumental in advancing the manufacturing capabilities of the company in all aspects of optical products to include machining and molding of glass, polymer and IR materials, as well as complex optical assembly and electro-optical integration. His previous role involved direct leadership over the majority of RPO’s workforce and spearheading the introduction of new and advanced manufacturing methods with greater on-time performance. Prior to joining RPO, Mike has worked with Randy Shaw and RPO’s ownership in a variety of leadership capacities at organizations such as Insight Technology (now L3Harris).
“I am truly proud to look back on all the great things we have accomplished over the past several years,” remarked Randy Shaw. In announcing Mike’s role, he went on to say, “With Mike’s experience over the last 5 years at RPO and the significant achievements we have made, I am confident that Mike is the right leader to ensure RPO’s customers continue to receive increaseingly sophisticated optical products of the highest quality, delivered on time and representing outstanding value.”
Shaw recently announced he plans to retire in December of this year, following a successful tenure supporting RPO’s strategic growth efforts and organizational development initiatives. Randy joined RPO’s leadership after more than 35 years in the defense industry. Shortly after, he assumed the role of President. In this position, he transformed the company by introducing thorough processes, capabilities and innovation to better serve RPO’s customers in defense and commercial markets. Randy’s leadership has led to significant organizational growth, including growth of RPO’s workforce and diversified customer base. This work enables RPO to better serve the defense and commercial markets with advanced optical imaging products.
