January 7, 2010 - Cognex announced the promotion of Robert Willett to President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Willett will assume these responsibilities in addition to his current role as President of the Modular Vision Systems Division (MVSD), which is the largest operating division of Cognex. Mr. Willett will continue reporting to Dr.
Robert J. Shillman, who remains the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. As President of Cognex Corporation, Mr. Willett will oversee both the Modular Vision Systems Division (MVSD) and the Surface Inspection Systems Division (SISD). Thomas F.
Nash will continue in his current role as President of the Surface Inspection Systems Division, but he will now report to Mr. Willett rather than to Dr. Shillman. Finance and Administration, under the direction of Cognex Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard A. Morin, will continue to report to Dr.
Shillman. “When Rob joined Cognex as President of MVSD in 2008, it was with the expectation that after he proved himself in that role, he would become President of Cognex and be responsible for both of our divisions,” said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex. “Over the past year and a half, Rob has exceeded my expectations and those of our Board of Directors.
Rob has streamlined MVSD’s operations and managed that division back to profitability during very difficult economic times, and he did so without sacrificing progress on strategic initiatives that are important for the company’s future success. And, despite the reductions in operating expenses, Rob has been able to maintain the company’s work hard/play hard culture and winning spirit.” “After a year and a half with the company, I am more enthusiastic than ever about Cognex,” said Mr. Willett. “We have a very talented and dedicated team, a great pipeline of products, and new business partnerships that will help us bring those products to more users and more markets around the world.
As the global economy recovers, Cognex is in a very strong position to increase its share in the machine vision and industrial ID markets, and I look forward to leading the Cognex teams around the world to make that happen.” Mr. Willett joined Cognex in 2008 as Executive Vice President and President of the Modular Vision Systems Division. Prior to that he served as Group Vice President of Business Development and Innovation for the Product Identification business group at Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), a diversified manufacturer of industrial controls and technologies, with annual revenues of more than $10 billion.
Prior to that role, he served as President of Videojet Technologies, a subsidiary of Danaher and a market leader in coding and marking products, with revenue in excess of $500 million. Before joining Danaher, he was CEO of Willett International Ltd., a global coding and marking company that he sold to Danaher in 2003, and which was merged into Videojet.
About Cognex
Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision sensors and systems, or devices that can "see." Cognex vision sensors are used in factories around the world to automate the manufacture of a wide range of items and to assure their quality. Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 500,000 machine vision systems, representing over $2.5 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.