II-VI officials marked the Clinton Township company's 1971 founding by ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange Tuesday.

II-VI, the engineered materials and optoelectronic components company headquartered in Clinton Township, celebrated its 50th anniversary Tuesday by ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange at Times Square in New York City.

Vincent D. Mattera Jr., CEO of II-VI, said the company was founded June 22, 1971, on a dream to meet evolving needs in the optics and electronics markets.

Joining Mattera at the stock exchange were company co-founder Carl Johnson, the first II-VI CEO, and Fran Kramer, the company's board chairman and second CEO.

Other members of the current board of directors as well as the executive team also participated in the bell ringing.

Johnson said technology revolutions at II-VI, now a global company, over the past 50 years have included enabling new ecosystems for the electrification of transportation, high-speed communications and computing networks at the foundation of smart cities, smart cars, smart factories, electric vehicles and telemedicine, among other innovations.He said moving forward, the company will continue to make bold moves toward targeting attractive returns for investors while “making the world safer, healthier, closer and more efficient.”

II-VI Inc., the engineered materials and optoelectronic components firm headquartered in Clinton Township, celebrated its 50th anniversary on Tuesday by ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange at Times Square in New York City. Pictured is a screenshot of the II-VI video played in Times Square as officials, including CEO Vincent Mattera Jr. and co-founder Carl Johnson, rang the bell to open the Nasdaq.