Velodyne Lidar, Inc. recently announced Anand Gopalan as its new CEO. Gopalan, who previously was Velodyne’s CTO, assumes the position from Velodyne’s founder David Hall. Hall will continue as full-time chairman of the board and remain actively involved in directing the company’s technology, product vision and business strategy.
Gopalan is an engineer and technology executive with experience building and leading worldwide engineering organizations. He came to Velodyne in 2016 to form an advanced research and development team. Gopalan leads Velodyne’s customer-focused technology and product development teams to address market needs for lidar solutions designed for high performance, cost optimization and high-volume production.
Over the past three years, Gopalan has worked closely with Hall to develop the company’s technological roadmap and strategic vision. Gopalan is recognized across the industry as a thought leader in business as well as in technology. Recently, Gopalan became more active as a spokesman for the company, expertly explaining the benefits and the workings of lidar to audiences around the world. It is the policy of Velodyne to promote from within the company and Gopalan was a natural choice, having proved himself in 2019.
Gopalan and the Velodyne team look forward to building on the company’s growth trajectory. Due to the breadth and versatility of the Velodyne lidar portfolio, the company continues to make contributions to the ever-expanding autonomous industry. Velodyne is a recognized leader in a wide range of markets including automotive, mapping, on-demand mobility, robotics, security, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and more.
“Anand Gopalan and I have worked side-by-side on Velodyne’s technology roadmap. He is the right executive to lead Velodyne in its next growth phase,” said Hall. “His finger is on the pulse of customer and market needs while possessing the technical brilliance and leadership skills to innovate and deliver. As chairman, Anand has my full support while I continue to provide vision, strategize and invent.”
“David Hall is more than the founder of Velodyne, he is also the founder of our industry. I am grateful for the trust he has placed in me and excited to lead a company with such a deep history in innovation as Velodyne. We are the forefront of our market, ready to drive the age of autonomy. Velodyne is bringing improved mobility and safety through versatility, responsiveness and agility,” said Gopalan.
Elevating Gopalan to CEO will enhance the leadership team at Velodyne Lidar, running day-to-day business as the company addresses U.S. and global market opportunities. Gopalan and Hall will continue to be supported by a strong bench of Velodyne executive C-staff, including Marta Hall, chief marketing officer, Rick Tewell, COO, Mike Jellen, chief commercial officer, Drew Hamer, CFO, Barbara Rogan, general counsel, and Mircea Gradu, senior VP of product and quality.
