Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corp. this week announced that it has appointed Laura Peterson, interim president and chief executive officer, to serve as its permanent president and CEO. The company also said that Ben Wolff, co-founder, former CEO, and current director, has rejoined its executive team as executive vice chairman.
“I am honored the board has asked me to stay on permanently as Sarcos’ leader and for the opportunity to continue moving the company forward,” Peterson said in a release. “We have made progress in a short time, and I am excited to lead the company as products are developed.”
Salt Lake City-based Sarcos has developed robots, exoskeletons, and software to improve workforce safety and productivity. The company said its teleoperated systems address challenging, unstructured environments for markets that require a high degree of autonomy, accuracy, and efficiency, including maritime, defense, and energy.
In July, Sarcos laid off a portion of its staff and moved manufacturing from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City. Since then, it has partnered with Blattner Co. on robots for solar construction, won a $13.8 million U.S. Air Force contract, and delivered a Guardian Sea Class system to Atlantas Marine Ltd.
Sarcos makes Peterson permanent CEO
Peterson has served as Sarcos interim president and CEO since May 2023 and has served on its board of directors since September 2021. She will continue to serve on the company’s board.
Sarcos noted that under Peterson’s leadership, it has significantly reduced inefficiencies, optimized operations, fostered its artificial intelligence and machine learning business, and reduced cash usage.
“Laura stepped in at a critical time when the company had failed to meet key product-development milestones due to, among other factors, unexpected engineering challenges, lingering supply chain issues, and a lack of focus from trying to develop and commercialize a large number of products at the same time,” noted Dennis Weibling, Sarcos’ chairman of the board.
“She has done a remarkable job over the past six months to narrow the company’s focus, secure customer wins, and reduce cash burn,” he added. “We anticipate that the combined and complementary talents of Laura as CEO and Ben as the executive vice chair will help the company move forward as our product development and commercialization efforts continue.”
Peterson’s career and corporate board experience spans multinational industrial, high-growth technology, and transportation sectors. During her 22-year Boeing aerospace career, she held a series of executive positions.
Peterson served on the executive leadership team of three Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) CEOs, as well as BCA Airplane Production and Supplier Management, BCA Strategy, and Boeing International. She was frequently tapped to lead priority and emergent areas of high strategic and financial importance to the company.
Sarcos said Peterson's most recent role at Boeing was as vice president of business development for China, Boeing’s largest commercial market.
Peterson is also a member of the board of directors of Air Transport Services Group Inc. and Accelya Group, a Vista Equity Partners SaaS portfolio company. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wolff returns to pursue opportunities
Wolff led Sarcos from 2015 to 2021 as chairman, president, and CEO and has served on its board of directors since 2015, including as executive chairman from December 2021 to January 2023.
As part of the executive team, Wolff will help evaluate and pursue strategic business opportunities, including for Sarcos’ Advanced Technologies Division.
In addition to serving on the Sarcos board, Wolff is a board member for satellite communications company Globalstar Inc. Before co-founding Sarcos, he led the restructuring and turnaround of a publicly traded satellite communications company.
Wolff also co-founded and led Clearwire Corp., which was sold to Sprint for more than $14 billion. He served as president of Eagle River Investments, an investment fund focused on telecommunications and technology.
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