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 seven board members. One board member, Robert J. Willett, is an executive officer 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 began his tenure at Venrock in 1979 and was a general partner 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.

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.

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 instruments, systems, subsystems, and process control solutions for advanced manufacturing processes, since 2020. Prior to that, he held a series of progressive leadership roles since joining MKS 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). He also serves as Chair of the Massachusetts High Technology Council (MHTC) since 2023 and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of MHTC (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.

Angelos Papadimitriou, Chairman, Athena Ventures
Mr. Papadimitriou currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Athena Ventures, an early-stage venture firm. From August 2020 to February 2021, he was the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Pirelli & C. S.p.A., a public company listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. Mr. Papadimitriou previously led Coesia S.p.A., a group of global industrial and packaging solutions companies as their Chief Executive Officer for ten years. Prior to that, Mr. Papadimitriou spent over fifteen years in the pharmaceutical industry, including as Senior Vice President for Italy and Southeast Europe at Glaxosmithkline. Mr. Papadimitriou currently serves as a director of Humanitas, a privately held network of teaching and research hospitals and Dompé Farmaceutici S.p.A., a privately held biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Papadimitriou was appointed a Director of Cognex on February 17, 2023. He holds an M.B.A from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Computer Science and Business Economics from Brown University.

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. In addition to numerous certifications and licenses, 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 is Board Certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine as well as in Internal Medicine. She is a former Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 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 and as President of Videojet. 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.