LES KACEV - PRINCIPAL
Les founded LEDmetric/Elkays and has led the company through its various phases since its inception. Les Kacev has been intimately involved in the LED and solid state lighting business for over a decade both as principal and consultant.
He worked on the team that developed the first commercially viable LED lighting for the jewelry industry which created fire and sparkle in diamonds and other precious stones and metals. He is an avid collector of art and photography which led him to develop an LED luminaire for museums, galleries and collectors to show art and photography in their best light, balancing the age-old “preservation versus presentation” issue while rendering colors perfectly. These fixtures are optimal for various other niche markets not mentioned above including professional scanning and printing, art restoration, color matching and many more.
Les has consulted with Indian, Chinese and US solid state lighting manufacturers and distributors dealing with issues of quality, color rendering, thermal management, driver design and light quality characterization.
Les thinks out of the box and has truly made the paradigm shift necessary to determine the optimal light for individual circumstances. His novel graphic depiction of luminaire photometrics simplifies this complex task. He has put together educational programs to assist those who wish to transition from traditional to solid state lighting. He continues this involvement by running workshops on color quality, spectroscopy, security lighting, matching cameras and lighting for the movie/video market. Les is part of the team that continuously refines software for the Lighting Passport, hand held, smart phone spectrometer.
Les is involved in non-visual aspects of lighting and serves on the Human Centric Lighting committee. Lighting and quality of light is key in determining circadian rhythms, sleep patterns, mood, productivity and many other well-being related facets of the human condition.
Les has run private and public companies both in the US and abroad. He read for a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Rhodes University and Master of Business Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand. He studied finance and computers at UCLA and taught business strategy and pricing policy at Damelin School of Management.
Les has received many academic awards including a Rotary Foundation Fellowship.