BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 22, 2005 – iRobot Corp. CEO Colin Angle was honored as a Best Boss by FSB: Fortune Small Business magazine at Tuesday’s annual FSB Best Bosses awards ceremony in Chicago. Angle and 14 other entrepreneurs were named 2005 Best Bosses based on their vision, creativity, focus, great people skills and the ability to get the best out of their employees. The list of honorees appears in the October issue of FSB, and at www.fsb.com.
“What’s most heartening is to see leaders from a wide range of industries and from across the country all find ways to create workplaces where employees are gratified and rewarded, and the businesses and the employees both benefit,” says Kenneth Lehman, chairman of Winning Workplaces, a non-profit organization that helps small businesses create successful workplace practices. “Not only is Colin making an impact on his organization, his company’s robots also are hard at work, helping people every day.”
Angle was recognized for creatively hiring and managing top talents who are contributing to iRobot’s long-term strategy and growth. Angle has also helped transform iRobot from a small MIT spin-off to a $95 million business. To date, more than 1.2 million iRobot Roomba® vacuuming robots have been sold worldwide and over 200 iRobot PackBot® tactical mobile robots are protecting the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Angle’s 16 years of experience in the robot industry include work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the behavior-controlled rovers that led to Sojourner exploring Mars in 1997. This year, Angle has been a featured speaker at International CES 2005, The Wall Street Journal’s “D – All Things Digital” conference and The Future in Review.
To select the winners from a group of 100 nominees, FSB, Winning Workplaces and a panel of judges evaluated employee satisfaction, investment in workers, benefits and other measures. The business leaders were subjected to a 360-degree performance review as judges interviewed customers, financial and legal advisors, board members, investors and employees about their boss’s leadership style and philosophy.
About iRobot Corp.
iRobot is a provider of robots that perform dull, dirty or dangerous missions in a better way. The company’s proprietary technology, iRobot AWARE Robot Intelligence Systems, incorporates advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. This proprietary system enables iRobot to build behavior-based robots, including its family of consumer and military robots. For additional information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.