The executive team at Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation consists of some of the greatest thought leaders in AI, robotics, and beyond. Great people make great things and the mission Sanctuary is on will stop nothing short of extraordinary as we create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots.
Meet the incredible people who make Sanctuary one of the most exciting companies to work at in the world, as stated by our employees in a recent survey.
Geordie Rose
Co-Founder & CEO
Geordie Rose co-founded Sanctuary in 2018 and is our CEO. Prior to Sanctuary, Geordie founded D-Wave, the world’s first quantum computing company, and was the CEO of Kindred, the world’s first robotics company to use reinforcement learning in a production environment. He was named the 2011 Canadian Innovator of the Year, was listed on Foreign Policy Magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2013, and won the 2014 Canadian Technology Leader award. Learn More
Suzanne Gildert
Co-Founder & CTO
Suzanne Gildert co-founded Sanctuary in 2018 and is our CTO. Before Sanctuary, Suzanne founded Kindred, the world’s first robotics company to use reinforcement learning in a production environment. Prior to Kindred, Suzanne ran technical marketing at D-Wave, where she worked on porting AI algorithms to D-Wave’s quantum annealing hardware. Learn More
Matt Ellis
Chief Product Officer
Matt Ellis joined Sanctuary in 2022, bringing with him more than 25 years of commercial product development experience built upon artificial intelligence, machine-learning, cloud and edge computing, IoT, simulation, high-performance computing, and autonomous systems. He has held senior leadership roles leading artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and product engineering organizations in multiple companies, including Amazon, HP, IBM, and various startups. Learn More
Philip Smith
Chief Financial Officer
Philip Smith joined Sanctuary in 2021 after 30 years of experience in banking and capital markets. Prior to joining Sanctuary, Philip had a 27-year-long career at Scotiabank, most recently as the Head of Investor Relations. He also served as Global Head of Debt and Equity Capital Markets; prior to that, he was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Global Banking and Markets. Learn More
James Wells
Chief Commercial Officer
James Wells joined Sanctuary in 2019 with previous experience as a venture capitalist in both operator and investor capacities. During his ten years in the venture industry, James co-created 3 companies with founding investments, served on numerous boards, and contributed towards a top quartile performing fund. Learn More
Ben Reed
Chief Marketing Officer
Ben Reed joined Sanctuary in 2021 after spending 17 of his 24-year technology industry career at Microsoft Corporation in various strategy, marketing, and communications leadership positions. He built and led the communication teams responsible for launching Microsoft Surface, Microsoft HoloLens, and the Microsoft Mixed Reality platform. Learn More
Exciting. Rewarding. Challenging. Innovative. Collaborative. These were the top adjectives chosen by Sanctuary employees to describe the impactful work they are involved with on a daily basis, working alongside the executive team to help the rest of the world work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably with Sanctuary technology.
*A previous version of this blog post referenced Matt Ellis as SVP Engineering. This has been amended to reflect his current title of Chief Product Officer.
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Sanctuary is on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots. Join us and work with world leaders in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognition, and robotics—all working together toward a common goal. Visit our careers page to learn more.
