November 5, 2020 — Redwood City, Calif. — Skydio, the leading US drone company and world leader in autonomous flight, announced the addition of three key product and engineering leadership hires as it continues its rapid growth into the enterprise and public sector markets. Roy Goldman is appointed Head of Product Management, Ryan Reading appointed Head of Software Engineering and Mike Ross appointed Senior Director of Product Management. These critical hires come on the heels of the company’s recent $100M Series C raise to fund the next phase of product development for the enterprise, public sector and defense markets. Roy, Ryan and Mike bring industry leading R&D expertise in IoT, cloud computing, autonomy, security, and aviation. They will play critical roles in realizing the company’s vision for the first-of-its-kind integrated enterprise autonomy stack.
“Our breakthrough technology is a direct reflection of an incredibly talented team that spans hardware, software, and autonomy. I’m very excited to add Roy, Ryan, and Mike’s leadership and expertise to our team. In particular, their track record of delivering category-leading enterprise solutions with cloud connected hardware will be key for us in solving the challenges for drones to realize their potential in the enterprise,” said Adam Bry, CEO of Skydio. “Software is now the dominant factor for drones, and Skydio’s autonomy solutions are re-defining the industry by fundamentally changing the way people use drones. Expanding our team has enabled us to lift our skill sets in further areas such as IoT, automation and the cloud.”
Goldman comes to Skydio with over two decades of experience within product management of high-tech solutions for enterprise. He has held executive roles including SVP of Software & Product at Carbon, Inc., and Director of Software Development at Tesla. Goldman graduated from Stanford University with his PhD in Computer Science.
“I’m thrilled to join Skydio. With game-changing autonomy, Skydio’s drones are transforming manual, error-prone tasks into revolutionary, cost-effective solutions across a broad range of industries. I am eager to bring my experience with innovative software-driven, cloud-connected devices and apply it to Skydio’s exciting opportunities ahead. Existing solutions are based on a manual, hardware-centric design that makes them hard to use and easy to crash, limiting their applicability and increasing cost. Customers are clearly looking for easier to use solutions that deliver real automation. Skydio’s vision for an integrated enterprise autonomy stack will respond to this need and unlock the massive untapped potential of drones.” said Roy Goldman, Head of Product Management at Skydio.
Reading has over eighteen years of experience working in high-tech engineering for enterprise IoT, cloud and network security solutions. Reading joins Skydio from Samsara where he has been VP of Engineering and more recently VP/GM of Fleet Safety. Previously, he led Cisco Meraki’s MX security team where he focused on advanced network security and spent several years in the Intelligence Community designing high security communication systems. Reading graduated from Missouri S&T University with his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He is looking forward to leading the software team at Skydio and in doing so bringing the Skydio platform to life.
Ross comes to Skydio directly from Samsara, the fastest growing IoT company in the world, where he led the Telematics Product Group focused on cloud-connected fleet management hardware, tools, and applications. Prior to Samsara, Ross was a fighter pilot and experimental test pilot in the United States Navy, where he helped lead the carrier suitability flight test of the F/A-18 A-F, X-47B, and F-35C. He graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering, and holds a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Postgraduate School. In addition to his Part 107 certificate, Ross holds an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate, and both multi-engine and seaplane ratings. Ross’ professional background provides him the perfect blend of enterprise IoT and deep aviation expertise, allowing him to guide the development of Skydio’s integrated enterprise autonomy stack, focusing specifically on connected flight operations.
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About Skydio
Skydio is the leading U.S. drone manufacturer and world leader in autonomous flight. Skydio leverages breakthrough AI to create the world’s most intelligent flying machines for use by consumer, enterprise, and government customers. Founded in 2014, Skydio is made up of leading experts in AI, robotics, cameras, and electric vehicles from top companies, research labs, and universities from around the world. Skydio designs, assembles, and supports its products in the U.S. from its headquarters in Redwood City, CA, to offer the highest standards of supply chain and manufacturing security. Skydio is trusted by leading enterprises across a wide range of industry sectors and is backed by top investors and strategic partners including Andreesen Horowitz, Levitate Capital, Next47, IVP, Playground, and NVIDIA.
Aircover Communications:
Morgan Mason
skydioteam@aircoverpr.com
