Stuart Barnes provides leadership to a distinguished group of optical, hardware and software engineers. Stuart and his engineering organizations are responsible for the technical innovations that are maximizing the capacity and transmission distances of evolving optical networks.

Prior to Xtera, Stuart Barnes was the SVP of Engineering for Azea Networks. In that role, he led the technical development efforts of the company's next-generation SLTE Transport technologies. He is one of the most highly regarded submarine systems technical experts in the world, having been Technical Director of STC Submarine Systems, a co-founder of core optical switching equipment provider Ilotron and having had more than 20 years of top-level experience with Alcatel, Nortel and ITT.