John McGraw, former CEO of Lightlogic, the transceiver startup acquired by Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), has resurfaced as chairman of the board at U.K. components startup Kamelian Ltd. (see Kamelian Names Chairman).

McGraw says that his work at LightLogic was done -- Intel had fully integrated the acquired company into its organization (see LightLogic Bulks Up Under Intel). Now he hopes to be involved with a limited number of startups, rather than just being CEO of a single company, he told Light Reading. Kamelian is his first venture since leaving Intel.

"I've done big-company things in my career already," he says. "I wouldn't have changed my big-company time for anything, but now I'd rather be creating something new, rather than dealing with the complexities of running a big organization."

Paul May, Kamelian's CEO, says that finding McGraw was quite a coup for the startup. "He's a big hitter," he says. Prior to LightLogic, McGraw ran an $8 billion dollar business for Raychem, part of Tyco Electronics.

As an aside, quite a few former Raychem execs have taken key positions at optical networking companies, including Big Bear Networks CEO Mark Thompson, Lightwave Microsystems Corp. CEO John Midgley, Symmorphix Inc. CEO Peter Brooks, and Jerry Rawls, president and CEO of Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR).

For Kamelian, the appointment comes at a key time, as the startup starts to ramp up its sales and marketing effort. It has introduced several products and recently inaugurated a new manufacturing plant in Oxford, U.K. (see Kamelian Opens SOA Plant and Kamelian to Upstage Genoa?). McGraw's experience as a salesman, and his location in California will be important in helping Kamelian raise its profile in Silicon Valley, May says.

But although McGraw will be based 10,000 miles away from his new venture, both parties are at pains to point out that he will not be "just a trophy chairman." "I intend to take an active role, spending a few days a week working with the team," he says.

McGraw's introduction to Kamelian may have come courtesy of Lightspeed Venture Partners, which is an investor in both LightLogic and the U.K. startup. (Disclosure: Lightspeed is also an investor in Light Reading.)

— Pauline Rigby, Senior Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com