Cognex Board of Directors

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The Board of Directors of Cognex Corporation serves shareholder interest by helping to set the company’s long-term strategy, overseeing key investment decisions, and holding management accountable for its decisions. Our Board currently consists of eight board members. One board member, Robert J. Willett, is an executive officer of Cognex, and Patrick A. Alias is a non-executive employee of Cognex. The remaining directors are "independent" as such term is defined in the applicable listing standard of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC.

Anthony Sun, Former Managing General Partner, Venrock Associates
Mr. Sun is Chairman of our Board of Directors, succeeding Cognex founder Dr. Robert “Bob” Shillman after his retirement in May 2021. Mr. Sun was the managing general partner and Chief Executive Officer of Venrock Associates, a venture capital partnership, from 1997 until his retirement in 2010. He joined Venrock in 1979 and was a general partner of Venrock from 1980 until 1997. Mr. Sun has served as a Director of Cognex since 1982 and was our Lead Independent Director prior to becoming Chairman. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of several private companies. Mr. Sun holds a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Patrick A. Alias, Senior Vice President, Cognex Corporation
Mr. Alias has been Senior Vice President of Cognex since April 2005, and previously was Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Cognex from 1991 through April 2005. Over the past three years, Mr. Alias has been involved with growing Cognex’s Logistics business and supporting Cognex’s Deep Learning technology. Prior to joining Cognex, Mr. Alias spent more than 20 years in high technology management in Europe, Japan and the United States. Mr. Alias has served as a Director of Cognex since 2001. He holds a Master’s Degrees in Electronics, Mathematics, and Economics, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Theodor Krantz, Former Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Airmar Technology Corporation
Mr. Krantz served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Airmar Technology Corporation, a world leader in ultrasonic sensors for the marine and industrial markets, from 2011 until his retirement in 2018. He had previously served as President of Airmar Technology, Inc. from 2000 to 2011. From 1984 to 1999, he was President, and later Chief Executive Officer, of Velcro Industries. Mr. Krantz has served as a Director of Cognex since 2007. For more than 14 years, he has been serving as a member of the board and audit committee of Hitchiner Manufacturing Company. He also served as a member of the board and audit committee of ControlAir, Inc. from 2002 to 2021. Mr. Krantz holds a B.A. from Princeton University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Sachin S. Lawande, President and Chief Executive Officer, Visteon Corporation
Mr. Lawande has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Visteon Corporation (VC), a leading global technology supplier of vehicle cockpit electronic products, since 2015. Previously, he worked at Harman International Industries, Inc. (HAR), which was an independent public company at the time, for 10 years, where he held a range of leadership positions including president of the company’s largest division with nearly $3 billion in annual sales. Since 2015, Mr. Lawande has served as a director of Visteon Corporation (VC), a publicly held company listed on Nasdaq. He was also on the board of DXC Technology Company (DXC) from 2015 until August 2020. Mr. Lawande has served as a Director of Cognex since January 1, 2021. He holds a B.S. from Bombay University, and a Master’s Degree from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Dr. John T.C. Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer, MKS Instruments, Inc.
Dr. Lee has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of MKS Instruments, Inc. (Nasdaq: MKSI), a global provider of technologies that enable advanced processes and improve productivity with nearly $3 billion in annual sales, since 2020. Prior to that, he held a series of progressive leadership roles after joining the company in 2007, including Chief Operating Officer from 2016 to 2019. Earlier in his career, Dr. Lee worked at various leading technology companies, including Applied Materials, Lucent Technologies, and AT&T Bell Labs. He currently serves on the MKS board of directors (since 2020) and as Vice Chair and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts High Technology Council (since 2021). Dr. Lee was appointed a Director of Cognex on May 4, 2022. He holds a B.S. from Princeton University and both an M.S.C.E.P. and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in Chemical Engineering.

Dianne M. Parrotte, M.D., M.P.H., Independent Consultant
Dr. Parrotte has been an independent consultant to corporations, law firms and insurance companies on human resources matters involving employee health and wellness since 1995. Prior to that, she served as chief in charge of occupational health at Bath Iron Works (later acquired by General Dynamics) and on-site medical director at Polaroid Corporation. She has served as a Director of Cognex since 2018 and was a Cognex director from 1981, at the time of the Company's incorporation, to 1982. Dr. Parrotte holds an M.P.H. from the Medical College of Wisconsin, an M.D. from the Boston University School of Medicine and a B.A. from Boston University. She also completed the Penn State Executive Program.

Marjorie T. Sennett, Former Managing Director, Farallon Capital Management, LLC
Ms. Sennett currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of The diaTribe Foundation, a private entity focused on improving the outcomes of people with diabetes. From 2014 to 2018, she was a director and member of the Audit Committee at QuinStreet, Inc. (Nasdaq: QNST), a performance marketing technology company. Named one of “20 Women in Finance You Should Add to Your Company’s Board” by Business Insider, Ms. Sennett previously served as a managing director of Farallon Capital Management, LLC where she invested in publicly-traded securities for eight years. Before that, she was Chief Financial Officer at eGroups, Inc., where she co-led the sale of the company to then publicly held Yahoo! Inc., and at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she led the company’s initial public offering and multiple follow-on public offerings. Ms. Sennett has served as a Director of Cognex since November 3, 2021. She holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Robert J. Willett, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cognex Corporation 
Mr. Willett has been Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Cognex since 2011. He joined Cognex in 2008 as President of the Modular Vision Systems Division (MVSD) and was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2010. Mr. Willett came to Cognex from Danaher Corporation, a diversified manufacturer of industrial controls and technologies, where he served as Vice President of Business Development and Innovation for the company’s Product Identification business group. Prior to that, Mr. Willett was President of Videojet Technologies, a leader in coding and marking products. Mr. Willett currently serves as a director of Clean Harbors, Inc.(CLH), a publicly held company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Yale University.