Leadership

Rick Cohen is Chairman of Symbotic’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Symbotic. He is also the Executive Chairman of both C&S Holdings and C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., where he is the third generation of the Cohen family to lead that company. Rick grew up in the C&S Wholesale Grocers business, working for his father during the summers until his graduation from college in 1974, when he went to work full-time at C&S Wholesale Grocers. Rick became Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of C&S Wholesale Grocers in 1989 and served as President until March 2014 and as Chief Executive Officer until January 2018, during which time he led the growth and expansion of C&S Wholesale Grocers into an industry leader in supply chain solutions and wholesale grocery supply. Rick holds a B.S. in accounting from the Wharton School of Business. He has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Assumption College and Keene State College. Rick was selected to serve on the board of directors due to his extensive experience in the wholesale distribution business, his vision and experience in automation and his experience and track record in entrepreneurship, investment and business development and deep relationships in various industries.

Izzy Martins is the Chief Financial Officer at Symbotic, where she leads all aspects of the company’s financial operations and serves as a strategic advisor to the leadership team. She assumed the role in August 2025, bringing more than 25 years of experience in financial and business leadership.

Before joining Symbotic, Izzy spent over 20 years at Avis Budget Group, where she held a series of senior leadership roles. She concluded her tenure at Avis as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, following four operational years as Executive Vice President, Americas. Previously, she was Avis’s Chief Financial Officer, Americas, and Chief Accounting Officer. During her time at Avis, Izzy played a key role in shaping the company's financial strategy, enhancing operational performance, and leading complex business transformation across multiple regions.

Earlier in her career, she spent over seven years at Deloitte, where she built a strong foundation in tax planning and accounting services.
Izzy holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Juris Doctor degree, both from Seton Hall University.

Brian Alexander has been named Senior Vice President, Commercial at Symbotic. In that role, Brian is focused on expanding the market for Symbotic’s products and growing the customer base. He joined Symbotic in March of 2025 and brings more than 20 years of supply chain, continuous improvement and business growth experience to the team. Prior to joining Symbotic, Brian served as Chief Marketing Officer at Hub Group where he grew specialized supply chain solutions for Fortune 500 manufactures, retailers, and consumer package goods clients. In addition, Brian served as Hub Group’s Chief Operating Officer where he was responsible for integrating and operating end-to-end supply chain solutions, Executive Vice President of Logistics where he lead the development and integration of multi-modal logistics and Vice President of Operations where he managed and directed internal and external continuous improvement initiatives. Brian serves on the advisory board of Marquette University’s Center of Supply Chain Management and is a long-time member of the Center of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Brian has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Marquette University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Cardinal Stritch University.

Brendan Blennerhassett is the Chief Product Innovation Officer at Symbotic. In this role, he is responsible for developing and delivering new product solutions into the organization. Previously, Brendan served as Symbotic’s Senior Vice President, European Region. Brendan has more than 30 years’ experience and a proven track record of identifying and developing effective ways to optimize and scale large organizations. Prior to joining Symbotic, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Expert Technologies Group. He has also held a number of executive leadership roles at Comau, including the CEO positions of its North America and United Kingdom business units, where he delivered transformational results, optimized growth opportunities for the business, and was responsible for driving exceptional customer service and operational excellence. Brendan graduated from the Institute of Directors in London, England as a Certified Company Director.

Bill Boyd has served as Chief Strategy Officer of Symbotic since February 2020. In that role, Boyd is responsible for planning and directing various operational, financial, administrative and strategic activities for Symbotic. He has more than 12 years of extensive distribution and logistics industry experience. Since February 2020, Bill has also served as the Chief Legal Officer of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Prior to joining Symbotic, Bill served from April 2019 to February 2020 as the chief legal officer at Imperial Dade, a high-growth foodservice packaging and supplies distribution company. Bill also held the roles of general counsel and chief legal officer at C&S Wholesale Grocers from March 2009 to February 2018 and February 2018 to April 2019, respectively, and in those roles, Bill was involved in the initial investment by Rick Cohen in CasePick Systems, which later became Warehouse Technologies.

Bill has a diverse educational background, with a J.D. from Duke University, M.B.A. from Babson College and a B.A. in history and psychology from Williams College.

As Chief Legal Officer, Corey Dufresne heads Symbotic’s legal group with more than 20 years of experience in business and securities law, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and corporate finance. Corey is responsible for leading Symbotic’s approach to technology licensing, regulatory compliance, intellectual property rights and all negotiations and business agreements. Corey joined Symbotic in 2011 after serving as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Netezza Corporation, where he facilitated its acquisition by IBM. Prior to his role at Netezza, he spent nine years at Wilmer Hale in Boston in the Corporate Law section and two years as an associate at Jones Walker in New Orleans. Corey graduated from Tulane Law School in New Orleans.

Michael Dunn is the Chief Customer Officer at Symbotic, where he previously served as Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Product Strategy from May 2017 to March 2025. His team leads Symbotic’s customer relationships, helps define the direction of the Symbotic System to ensure it remains a world-class, market-leading solution and assists in identifying key partners to enable the organization and technology to scale alongside customer growth. Prior to joining Symbotic, Michael held the role of Group Vice President Sales & Marketing at Fortna from December 2008 to May 2017, where he and his team helped some of the world’s biggest brands transform their distribution operations into a competitive advantage. Before that, Michael was an early employee at Manhattan Associates, a global supply chain solutions provider, for 12 years. As Vice President of Sales at Manhattan Associates, he played an integral role in helping the company grow from a $5 million startup to a $300 million public company. Michael is a Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) member and graduate of Purdue University with B.S. in mechanical engineering.

James Kuffner is the Chief Technology Officer at Symbotic. In that role, James is responsible for building and advancing all Symbotic’s technologies and solutions. James has served as Symbotic's Chief Technology Officer since January 2025 and brings more than 30 years of experience in robotics within both academic and industry research. Prior to joining Symbotic, James was at Toyota Motor Corporation, where he held several leadership roles during his long tenure. Most recently, he was a Senior Fellow in charge of the company’s Software Development Center, after serving as Toyota’s Chief Digital Officer and Member of the Board. Prior to Toyota, James was a leader at Google for a variety of Engineering functions, including as the head of Google’s Robotics division, where he helped develop Google’s self-driving car and managed research projects. Before Google, James was an Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, leading research and teaching both computer science and robotics. As the author of 125 publications and 40 patents in 3D graphics, robotics and autonomous vehicles, James is known as the co-inventor of the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm for robot motion planning. James has a Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. in computer science from Stanford University.

Walt Odisho is Chief Manufacturing & Supply Chain Officer at Symbotic, leading teams responsible for strategic sourcing, supply chain, manufacturing & quality, project execution & implementation, commissioning, and customer site safety. Walt has over 30 years of experience in operations, engineering and manufacturing, with a proven history of implementing strategies that facilitate growth in quality, safety and productivity. Prior to joining Symbotic, Walt served as VP of Operations Fulfillment at Amazon.com, Inc. Prior to that, he was VP of Manufacturing, Safety & Quality for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, where he led a global production system. Prior to Boeing, Walt was Vice President/General Manager, Manufacturing and Operations at Toyota, where he spent over 24 years in senior manufacturing roles and led the company’s largest manufacturing facility across the globe. Walt graduated from The Wharton School’s Toyota Executive Development, Business Administration and Management program and holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from California State University, Fresno. He has served as an executive board member for the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers since 2010.

Pete Opalacz is Senior Vice President of Customer Operations at Symbotic, overseeing customer warehouse operations and responsible for leading our operations teams and implementing best-in-class processes, procedures, and technologies to benefit our customers and achieve operational excellence across our sites.

Pete has more than 15 years of extensive leadership, supply chain, and distribution management experience. Prior to joining Symbotic, Pete held several senior leadership roles at Martin Brower, managing multiple divisions across nationwide locations, leading large scale teams, and executing global operational initiatives. Prior to Martin Brower, Pete served was an officer in the United States Marine Corps where he served in numerous leadership positions and deployments to Afghanistan.

Pete holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and B.B.A in Business Administration and Management from University of Iowa.

Miriam Ort is Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Symbotic. In this role she is responsible for leading the human resources and communications organizations. Miriam brings more than 20 years of experience driving transformational change in global organizations. Since December 2019, Miriam has also served as EVP & CHRO of C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. Prior to C&S, Miriam was the senior vice president, human resources at Avis Budget Group. Miriam previously spent nearly a decade in executive HR roles at PepsiCo, before which she was head of talent management for Avon Products, North America. An accomplished author and speaker, Miriam coauthored the bestselling book One Page Talent Management: Eliminating Complexity, Adding Value from Harvard Business Press. Miriam holds a Masters in HR Management from Rutgers University and a B.A. in English from Thomas Edison State College.