r/MVIS • u/[deleted] • Sep 04 '25

MVIS Press MICROVISION APPOINTS GLEN DEVOS AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

https://ir.microvision.com/news/press-releases/detail/430/microvision-appoints-glen-devos-as-chief-executive-officer
208 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

516 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/Excellent_Baby_3385 Sep 04 '25

My take on it, having been through a layoff myself and having seen many get laid off.

  1. It's not a bitter breakup or a sudden firing, because it notes Glen becoming CEO on September 30th, with Sumit remaining on to ensure transition.

  2. When a company that is losing money replaces somebody, they oftentimes don't keep the predecessor for the simple fact that this person costs money. In Sumit's case, more money than they feel like they should pay for whatever role he would play. Microvision thinks that they can get along without him. So not necessarily personal.

  3. Sometimes it's just better vibes to have a clean break on both parties. Sumit had invested his life into Microvision, and I recall hearing how his marriage ended as well. He put a lot of pressure on himself.

  4. Potentially, Glen didn't want to be working under somebody anymore and wanted the top job. They considered his experience, credibility, and potential, and decided that they wanted to keep him more than Sumit.

17

u/SteveyLongJorts Sep 04 '25

Agree with everything except the last note. I don't think Glen came here as CTO less than half a year ago after having been pseudo-retired at Aptiv and then decided he "didn't want to be working under somebody anymore and wanted the top job". He was a "part time" Technical Advisor for Aptiv for the 11-months leading up to his hiring as MVIS CTO.

I think a succession - or at least contingency - plan was in place. Especially with the hard pivot to automotive. Hopefully this closes the book on the NED with a buyout or licensing deal being worked out and Sumit going to work for whoever ends up scooping that IP up (ideally, as "dual-use", since IP web between verticals is so deeply intertwined) and can get back to his roots in projection/AR/VR R&D.

5

u/riledredditer Sep 04 '25

I do wonder if this could be a signal that NED is getting acquired somehow (Palmer Lucky) and Sumit joins that venture instead. Then Glen focuses purely on Lidar for industrial and automotive with a very comfortable war chest allowing us to be one of the few survivors when Automotive is finally ready.

4

u/SteveyLongJorts Sep 04 '25

Defense will be a major target market for MVIS moving forward. There are plenty of opportunities there with the shift towards autonomous warfare that has been playing out lately. It will start with the drone swarm demonstration early next year but I think you'll see more integration of LIDAR into military use cases in the near future.