Board Members

Colin Angle guides the strategic direction of iRobot. One of the world’s leading authorities on mobile robots, Angle is an industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience. Under his leadership, iRobot is at the forefront of the growing robot industry, delivering home and government robots that are making a difference. Angle’s keen sense of business strategy is a driving force behind iRobot’s successful identification and execution of expansion opportunities. With Angle’s guidance, iRobot has formed key strategic partnerships, building on decades of expertise from each partner to create new and innovative robot solutions.

Angle’s leadership and vision for the future of robots have been recognized with numerous professional awards. He has been named a Mass High Tech All-Star, one of Fortune Small Business Magazine’s Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young with iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner. Angle sits on the board of directors of Axon Labs, Inc. and is active on the Robotics & Intelligent Machines (RIM) advisory board. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT.

Dr. Rodney Brooks chairs iRobot’s Technical Advisory Board. A robotics entrepreneur, he is founder, chairman and CTO of Heartland Robotics and the panasonic professor of robotics at MIT. Dr. Brooks is also former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Prior to joining the faculty of MIT in 1984, he held research positions at Carnegie Mellon University and MIT, and a faculty position at Stanford University. Dr. Brooks has published many papers about computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and artificial life. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a founding fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), a corresponding member of the Australian Academy of Science and a foreign fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Dr. Brooks received degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

George McNamee has served as a director since August 1999. He is managing partner of FA Technology Ventures, an information and energy technology venture capital firm. McNamee also serves as chairman of Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), a leading fuel cell developer, and is a director of Broadpoint Securities (NASDAQ: BPSG) and several private companies. He is a trustee of The Albany Academies and the American Friends of Eton College. McNamee holds a B.A. from Yale University.

Peter Meekin has served as a managing director of Trident Capital since 1999. He has 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive and investor in the software, information services and information technology consulting sectors. Prior to Trident, Meekin was vice president of venture development at Enterprise Associates, LLC, the venture capital division of IMS Health Incorporated. Previously, he held senior technology and management positions with Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Lotus Development Corporation and IBM. In addition, Meekin has launched three start-up companies in the software and consulting industries. He is a member of the board at Aethon, Arxan Technologies, HyTrust, Spire, TriCipher, Vidient, Voltage Security, Inc. and Zeo, Inc.

General Paul Kern is president and chief operating officer of AM General. Until his retirement in January 2005, General Kern was commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command, where he was responsible for research and development, sustainment and support to procurement for the entire U.S. Army. Prior to that, he served as the military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology and was a senior military advisor to the Army Acquisition Executive and the Army Chief of Staff. General Kern served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment as a platoon leader and troop commander, and was a battalion operations officer with the 3rd Armored Division in Germany. He commanded the second brigade of the 24th Infantry Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and commanded the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) as it developed the Army's networked battlefield concepts. General Kern is a board member at ITT, a senior counselor with The Cohen Group and a member of the board of managers at CoVant. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he holds a bachelor’s degree in science, as well as a master’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, both from the University of Michigan.