Universal Robots president to step down

Jürgen von Hollen (left) and Gregory Smith. Photo Credit: Universal Robots

Jürgen von Hollen, the president of Universal Robots (UR), will be stepping down at the end of 2020 after four years of leading the company.

In a statement, UR officials said that von Hollen has decided to leave the Danish company effective December 31, 2020 for a new endeavor “in a non-competitive field.” He has served as president of UR since October 2016.

Von Hollen will be temporarily replaced on Jan. 1 by Gregory Smith, president of Teradyne’s Industrial Automation Group, while the company searches for its next president. Teradyne is the parent organization of UR.

“I thank Jürgen for his leadership over the past four years in growing Universal Robots from start-up status into the undisputed global leader in industrial collaborative robots,” said Teradyne president and CEO Mark Jagiela. “He leaves behind a strong platform for the next level of growth with a talented workforce, an engaged eco-system of distribution and technology partners as well as an expansive worldwide customer base of over 50,000 robots.”