Executive Leadership
Jeff Beck, Chief Executive Officer
Jeff is an accomplished operating executive and board director with a strong track record of profitably scaling businesses in both consumer and industrial technology domains. Jeff has executive leadership, board and M&A experience in public, private equity, and venture capital environments.
In addition to leading Soft Robotics, Jeff currently serves as a board director with inTest Corporation, (NYSE Symbol: INTT), where he chairs the compensation committee and is a member of the audit committee. Since joining the board in mid-2019, he has played a pivotal role in reinvigorating the business and was instrumental in recruiting and hiring a new CEO, CFO, Division President(s) and VP Business Development. inTest’s market capitalization has more than tripled since 2019 and analysts project continued momentum.
Before joining Soft Robotics, Inc., Jeff spent three years as an Operating Partner with Artemis Capital in Boston. In that role he assisted in deal evaluation, diligence and ultimately oversaw, as executive chairman, the performance and sale of several portfolio companies.
Previously Jeff was President and CEO of AstrodyneTDI – the world’s leader in design and manufacture of high-performance power supplies and battery charging systems. AstrodyneTDI solutions are at the heart of numerous mission and life critical machines in the medical, defense, aerospace, and semiconductor industries. Sponsored by private equity firm Audax Group, Jeff led AstrodyneTDI through a steep value creation journey that synchronized M&A, new product introductions, operational excellence and financial discipline resulting in a very successful exit.
Before joining AstrodyneTDI, Jeff served as President and COO of iRobot Corporation. Over his five-year tenure he led a substantial turnaround through deployment of strategies centered on development, manufacture, and marketing of high-performance products with premium branding. Jeff’s strategies also emphasized global expansion growing sales in Western Europe and Japan by more than 3 times. Ultimately, Jeff’s leadership tripled overall revenue, expanded gross margin, and grew market capitalization from $250 million to well over $1.5 billion.
Jeff acquired strong business leadership skills while progressing at Emerson, Danaher, and AMETEK. At these corporations he learned to lead with strategy, utilize proven business systems (like the Danaher Business System), execute / integrate add-on acquisitions, expand internationally and deliver profitable growth across numerous markets and economies.
He also served previously as a board director of Sun Edison Semiconductor (NASDAQ Symbol: SEMI). He was an original board member and assisted with the spin-out from a larger parent via an IPO creating a new, $1 billion market capitalization NASDAQ listed corporation. Jeff was a member of a committee formed to evaluate takeover bids and the company was later acquired at a substantial premium by an overseas buyer.
Jeff has served on the boards of several early-stage technology companies guiding founders and new CEOs as they sought to grow new enterprises. He also served on New Jersey Institute of Technology’s board of visitors advising a newly appointed Dean of Engineering tasked with advancing and accelerating the university’s mission.
Jeff holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Mark Chiappetta, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Technology Officer
Mark is a high-energy professional with over 25 years of experience in high growth start-ups as well as mid-sized, publicly traded companies. He is an exemplary executive leader, a pragmatic operating professional dedicated to building and growing new, innovative businesses, and a robotics subject matter expert with over 30 issued and numerous additional pending patents in the field.
Before joining Soft Robotics in 2016, Mark held the SVP Engineering and Product Development role at BionX Medical Technologies and prior to that spent more than 15 years at iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT).
At iRobot, he served in a variety of technical and leadership roles with his last being Vice President of the Advanced Systems and Technology group – the front-end innovation engine for the entire corporation. Earlier in his career, Mark worked alongside Joseph F. Engelberger, known worldwide as the “Father of Robotics” to expand the field of robotics beyond factory applications and into service industries. Mark is a former U.S. Navy Officer, has a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and has undertaken graduate coursework at NYU-Poly.