Velodyne Lidar, Inc. announced Mathew Rekow as its new chief technology officer (CTO). Rekow assumes the CTO role following Anand Gopalan, who was recently named Velodyne’s chief executive officer (CEO).
 
As CTO, Rekow leads Velodyne’s customer-focused advanced research and development team. The group designs state-of-the-art lidar solutions for high performance, cost optimization and high-volume production to address a wide range of market needs. Since joining the company in 2015, he has had a significant impact on Velodyne engineering and solution success, including the development of lidar products, such as the Alpha Prime, Velarray, Velabit and VelaDome.

Rekow was previously a senior director of optical engineering at Velodyne. With 30 years of experience in the development of macro and micro optical systems, semiconductor lasers and detectors, Rekow has proven an effective engineering team and project leader, building and fostering a dynamic research team. Rekow is an accomplished engineer whose work has contributed to numerous U.S. and European patents and successful commercial products and processes. He has written numerous technical articles for leading industry publications.  

“Mathew is passionate about addressing customer needs and driving innovation in advanced, cost-effective lidar technology,” said Gopalan. “He has been a powerful asset to Velodyne in developing game-changing lidar solutions that help our customers bring to market new products with greater autonomy and safety. Mathew is an outstanding engineering team leader who will guide us in continuing to develop outstanding products and managing a great technical team recognized for invention and growth opportunities.”

“As CTO, I will ensure Velodyne’s technology and product roadmap remains closely aligned with the needs and vision of our customers as we usher in the autonomous future. Of equal priority is growing our technical talent and mentoring the engineering architects and leaders that will take autonomous technology to the next level. Velodyne has built a diverse and capable engineering team and I will do everything I can to ensure our continued growth and industry leadership,” said Rekow.