ARM Institute creates 3 new leadership positions

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The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute has announced the promotion of three current employees: Dr. Charles (Chuck) Brandt has been promoted from Sr. Director, Technology Development to Vice President, Technical Initiatives. Arnold Kravitz’s role has been modified from Chief Technology Officer to Chief Innovation Officer, and Suzanne (Suzy) Teele has been promoted from Head of Marketing & Communications to Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Outreach.

“These newly created roles reflect each individual’s expanding responsibilities and contributions to the ARM Institute as the organization advances forward,” noted Ira Moskowitz, ARM Institute CEO, “The ARM Institute team and our Board of Directors congratulates Chuck, Arnie, and Suzy on their new roles and thanks them for their continued commitment to the ARM Institute mission.”

These organizational changes reflect the increasing diversity of the ARM Institute’s capabilities. Learn more about each team member and their new role below:

Arnie Kravitz: Chief Innovation Officer

Kravitz joined the ARM Institute in 2018 as the Institute’s Chief Technology Officer. In this role, he drove the creation and execution of the ARM Institute technical strategy. He has spent over 39 years designing, developing, and manufacturing a large portfolio of products that include weapon systems and countermeasures, aquatic robots, autonomous vehicles, augmented, and virtual reality vision systems, self-learning inference engine-based systems, commercial consumer electronics, cryptographic and counter cryptographic devices. He has taught as an Adjunct Professor at The Johns Hopkins University and has significant experience exploiting emerging tools and techniques to rapidly transform new ideas into manufactured products.

Kravitz is an experienced C-Suite executive and entrepreneur serving as CEO, COO, President, and Vice President of numerous fortune 500 companies, and served on several corporate boards. He holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In this new role, he will drive the ARM Institute’s innovation activities, to evolve and grow the organization, to achieve its continuous mission of: increasing U.S. global competitiveness, by accelerating the discovery, and transition of innovative solutions to the market, developing new partnerships, launching ventures, and securing new opportunities that make robots, AI, and autonomy more accessible to U.S. manufacturers and the defense industry.

Dr. Chuck Brandt: Vice President, Technical Initiatives

Dr. Brandt joined the ARM Institute in 2018 as Deputy Director, Technology Development before being promoted to Sr. Director, Technology Development earlier this year, and now being promoted to Vice President, Technical Initiatives. He joined the ARM Institute from Innovation Works, where he was the Vice President of Technology Programs. Prior to joining Innovation Works, he was the CTO at the Technology Collaborative, both Pittsburgh-based organizations. In these and prior roles at Northrop Grumman, Westinghouse, and Raytheon, Dr. Brandt has showcased his ability to coordinate technology initiatives, early-stage product development, and university-based commercialization.

Dr. Brandt holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Illinois. He has presented over 50 papers and holds 6 patents.

In his new role, Dr. Brandt will lead the ARM Institute’s technical strategy and program planning, continue to manage the ARM Institute program management office, and lead the Mill 19 robotic engineering plans and investment strategy.

Suzy Teele: Vice President, Strategic Initiatives & Outreach

Teele joined the ARM Institute shortly after its creation in 2017 and has been instrumental in developing the ARM Institute’s national brand and growing its consortium of 330+ organizations. She has over twenty years of experience in business strategy, product management, customer acquisition and retention, marketing, sales, and business development. Teele was also an executive at several software companies, driving revenue growth as a COO or CMO.

She has been recognized as an Indiana University of PA (IUP) Distinguished Alumni and has been inducted into the IUP Business Hall of Fame. Other accolades include a Greater Pittsburgh Athena Award finalist and BusinessWomen First Award. Teele helped to start the Pittsburgh Chapter of WELD (Women for Economic and Leadership Development) and has coached many women-owned businesses. She is also an advisory board member for the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.

In this new role, Teele will continue to drive the ARM Institute engagement strategy and ongoing efforts for sustainability, build relationships with key stakeholders, and oversee the ARM Institute product development strategy.