Ultraleap [1] announced this week that Steve Cliffe, CEO, has decided to step down and will be succeeded on Wednesday September 1, 2021 by Tom Carter, who founded the company back in 2013 and has since been the company’s CTO.
Steve Cliffe has led Ultraleap as CEO since the founding. During his tenure, he grew the company to a global team of over 150 people, oversaw multiple successful funding rounds, international expansion and the acquisition of Leap Motion Inc. He has decided to retire to spend more time with his family but is staying on as a Special Advisor to continue to support Tom Carter and the leadership team.
Steve said “It has been an honour and a privilege to lead Ultraleap as CEO for the past eight years, and I am very pleased with the success we have achieved. I have worked closely with Tom since he brought me onboard as CEO in 2013. This is the right time for him to step into the CEO role and I am confident that under his leadership, Ultraleap will continue to grow and prosper. The decision to step aside was one of the most difficult of my career, but it is the right time for me to spend more time with my wife and family. I look forward to continue supporting Tom and the Ultraleap team in an advisory capacity”..
Michael Tobin, Chairman of the Ultraleap Board, said “Steve has been absolutely instrumental in making Ultraleap the great company it is today. He has built a great team and culture, he has overseen Ultraleap’s expansion into the US and Asia and the acquisition of Leap Motion which enhanced the company’s IP portfolio and product offering significantly. The board has been preparing for this handover for some time, most recently by doing an extensive succession planning exercise at the beginning of this year. The timing is right because the company is well financed, the leadership team is ready, and the technology is now proven and ready to scale rapidly. I am very pleased to see Tom now take on the CEO role. As a founder with both deep technical expertise and extensive entrepreneurial experience, he is the ideal leader to build on Steve’s great work and take the company to the next level. I’d like to thank Steve personally, and on behalf of the Board, for his contribution to Ultraleap. We wish him all the best and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role.”
Ultraleap’s world-leading hand tracking and unrivalled mid-air haptic technologies allow you to engage with the digital world naturally – without touching surfaces. No touchscreens. No controllers. No keypads. From enhancing 2D screens to developing fully immersive 3D experiences, Ultraleap powers natural, safe and effortless digital interaction in the increasingly connected world.