Provides Progress Update on Growth Strategy
Velodyne Lidar, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLDR, VLDRW), the leading lidar
company, known worldwide for its broad portfolio of breakthrough
lidar technologies, today announced that Dr. Anand Gopalan has
informed the Board of Directors that he is stepping down as CEO and
a member of the Board, effective July 30, 2021. In connection with
this announcement, the Board has created an Office of the Chief
Executive (OCE), comprising several members of Velodyne’s senior
leadership team: Jim Barnhart, Chief Operating Officer; Drew Hamer,
Chief Financial Officer; Kathy McBeath, Chief People Officer; and
Sinclair Vass, Chief Commercial Officer. With support from the
Board of Directors, the members of the OCE will continue to execute
the Company’s growth strategy developed by Dr. Gopalan and the
executive team. The Board has also retained an executive search
firm to conduct a comprehensive search to identify a successor. Dr.
Gopalan intends to continue supporting the Company in an advisory
capacity following his departure.
Velodyne remains the only lidar company today with both the
breadth of product portfolio and the manufacturing capability to
deliver low-priced lidar with multiple specifications at scale for
many real-world applications. Recently, the Company:
- Has delivered continued strong growth in its sales pipeline,
and conversion into multiyear agreements remains steady across all
key markets, including ADAS, last-mile delivery, autonomous
vehicles and industrial robotics;
- Is experiencing increased customer traction within all
operational regions and market segments;
- Began building out its local technical support, inventory and
RMA infrastructure in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region to support
customer needs;
- Established a center of excellence in India and is growing its
local engineering teams to support ADAS applications in South
Korea; and
- Continues expanding its global footprint and reaching new
shipping targets to meet the demand for its products and
solutions.
In addition, Velodyne’s previously disclosed guidance for 2021
revenue – between $77 million and $94 million – and business
outlook remain unchanged. Velodyne will report second quarter
financial results for the period ended June 30, 2021 following the
close of the market on Thursday, August 5, 2021. On that day,
management will host a conference call and webcast at 1:30 p.m. PT
(4:30 p.m. ET).
“Velodyne Lidar is on the cutting edge of innovation in the
lidar industry, executing a clearly defined, long-term growth
strategy for the benefit of our shareholders and stakeholders,”
said Dr. Joseph B. Culkin, PhD, Chairman of Velodyne Lidar’s Board
of Directors. “Anand and the Board have established a best-in-class
management team that continues to expand Velodyne’s leadership
position, setting production records and delivering significant
progress on our growth plans. Leveraging our deep bench of talent
across the organization, we are confident Velodyne will continue
growing its robust pipeline and meeting the expanding demand for
our products and solutions. Velodyne not only has an ambitious
strategy and product roadmap in place, but also has a dedicated
team prepared to realize the compelling opportunities ahead.”
Dr. Gopalan stated, “I am honored to have led Velodyne through a
pivotal time in the Company’s history, and believe that now, with
it well positioned as a public company, is the right time to
transition to the next phase of leadership. I am confident that
Velodyne’s talented team – guided by Jim, Drew, Kathy and Sinclair,
as well as the team of world-class engineers under Chief Technology
Officer Matt Rekow – will take the Company to its next level of
success. Velodyne is ideally positioned to succeed, and I am
pleased to continue to provide support as an advisor during the
transition.”
Dr. Culkin continued, “Jim, Drew, Kathy and Sinclair possess
decades of collective experience, and we are confident they are the
right leaders to continue overseeing and implementing Velodyne’s
growth strategy. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank them
for assuming these additional roles and express our collective
confidence this is the right team to lead us through this
transition and accelerate value creation for our employees,
customers and investors. I would also like to thank Anand for his
innumerable contributions as CEO, and for leading Velodyne to where
it is today as a publicly traded industry leader. We look forward
to his continued support during this transition.”
About Jim Barnhart
Jim Barnhart serves as Chief Operating Officer at Velodyne
Lidar, where he is responsible for leading global automated mass
manufacturing operations that produce world-class lidar sensors.
Jim is a results-delivering executive with a proven record in
operations, general management, supply chain, services,
manufacturing and engineering. Prior to joining Velodyne, Jim was
Senior Vice President, Operations at Nanometrics Inc., a provider
of advanced process control solutions. Previously, he served as
Senior Vice President, Global Operations at Cymer LLC. Jim’s
industry experience also includes operational leadership roles at
Applied Materials, Johnson & Johnson and AREVA. He was also an
engineering division officer in the U.S. Navy. Jim holds an MBA
from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of
California at Berkeley, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from
Washington State University’s College of Engineering in
Pullman.
About Drew Hamer
Drew Hamer is Chief Financial Officer for Velodyne Lidar, where
he works with the leadership team on financial strategy and leads
the finance organization with forecasting, budgeting and
accounting. He is a seasoned finance executive with over 25 years
of financial leadership experience at public and pre-public
technology companies. Working at companies like ON24, Keynote
Systems, KnowNow, Intraspect Software, Excite@Home and Sybase, Drew
managed investor relations, implemented financial efficiencies,
raised capital and oversaw the expansion of financial and business
operations throughout the world, both organically and thru
acquisitions.
Drew holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree from
Binghamton University and a Master of Accounting degree from
Florida International University. He is also a member of Financial
Executives International, the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public
Accountants.
About Kathy McBeath
Kathy McBeath is Chief People Officer for Velodyne Lidar. She
joined Velodyne Lidar in October 2020 and is responsible for
leading the Company’s global HR organization. She is charged with
aligning the Company’s valued people resources to its strategic
priorities with a strong focus on leadership development, employee
engagement and company culture. She is passionate about developing
talent and helping employees at all levels reach their
potential.
Kathy brings more than two decades of experience as a senior
human resources executive in both high tech and medical device
industries. She started her career at Hewlett Packard in Finance
and later moved over to the HR side. She also spent time at Corsair
Gaming, Intuitive Surgical and Nevro, in various HR leadership
roles. Kathy holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration
with a concentration in accounting from San Jose State University.
In addition, she completed an Executive Leadership program through
Stanford University.
About Sinclair Vass
Sinclair Vass currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer at
Velodyne Lidar, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth
across all the Velodyne markets and geographies. Sinclair Vass is a
seasoned executive with extensive experience in telecommunications,
consumer electronics, automotive and industrial laser markets.
Prior to joining Velodyne, Mr. Vass was President of the Laser
Optics Business Unit at Focuslight Technologies Inc., a China-based
manufacturer of high-performance laser and optical beam steering
solutions. Before his time at Focuslight, Mr. Vass served as Vice
President of Sales, Product Management & Customer Service at
Viavi Solutions. Throughout his career, Mr. Vass has also held
increasingly senior leadership positions at JDS Uniphase, New Focus
Inc., Lucent Microelectronics, Hewlett Packard and Plessey Research
Inc. Mr. Vass graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the
University of Edinburgh and holds an MBA from the Open
University.
About Velodyne Lidar
Velodyne Lidar (Nasdaq: VLDR, VLDRW) ushered in a new era of
autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view
lidar sensors. Velodyne, the global leader in lidar, is known for
its broad portfolio of breakthrough lidar technologies. Velodyne’s
revolutionary sensor and software solutions provide flexibility,
quality and performance to meet the needs of a wide range of
industries, including autonomous vehicles, advanced driver
assistance systems (ADAS), robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV), smart cities and security. Through continuous innovation,
Velodyne strives to transform lives and communities by advancing
safer mobility for all. For more information, visit
www.velodynelidar.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward looking statements" within
the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, without
limitation, all statements other than historical fact and include,
without limitation, statements regarding Velodyne’s revenue
guidance, target markets, new products, development efforts, and
competition. When used in this press release, the words
"estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts,"
"plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," “can,”
"should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or
similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or
expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance, conditions or results and involve a number of known
and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important
factors, many of which are outside Velodyne's control, that could
cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those
discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors,
among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include
the uncertain impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Velodyne's and its
customers' businesses; Velodyne's ability to manage growth;
Velodyne's ability to execute its business plan; uncertainties
related to the ability of Velodyne's customers to commercialize
their products and the ultimate market acceptance of these
products; uncertainties regarding government regulation and
adoption of lidar; the rate and degree of market acceptance of
Velodyne's products; the success of other competing lidar and
sensor-related products and services that exist or may become
available; uncertainties related to Velodyne's current litigation
and potential litigation involving Velodyne or the validity or
enforceability of Velodyne's intellectual property; and general
economic and market conditions impacting demand for Velodyne's
products and services. For more information about risks and
uncertainties associated with Velodyne’s business, please refer to
the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of
Velodyne’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual
report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on
information available to Velodyne as of the date hereof, Velodyne
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise, except as required by law.
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Investor Relations InvestorRelations@velodyne.com
Media Jim Golden / Jack Kelleher Joele Frank, Wilkinson
Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449
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