Cognex Corp.

Natick machine vision firm Cognex has named a new CEO and president, following the retirement of the $915-million public company’s longtime leader, Robert Willett.

Ernie Herrman, president and CEO of The TJX Cos. in Framingham, was the highest-paid CEO among Central Massachusetts public companies for fiscal 2023.

Cognex, a global machine vision manufacturer, has named Dennis Fehr as the new CFO and senior vice president of finance for the publicly traded company in Natick, effective Friday.

The situation in Central Massachusetts, where 15.6% of named executive officers are female, largely mirrors the Massachusetts rate of 16.1% determined in a statewide census.

Machine vision manufacturer Cognex Corp. in Natick has appointed Angelos Papadimitriou to its board of directors as two board members plan to retire on May 3. 

When Shacey Petrovic stepped down as CEO of Acton medical-device company Insulet in May for personal reasons, she left Central Massachusetts without a single public company headquartered here, traded on NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange, with a woman as CEO.

After its busiest year ever, Natick-based manufacturer Cognex Corp. said its momentum might be starting to slow down.

In 2021, Cognex Corp, a Natick machine vision systems and barcode reader manufacturer, earned $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time in the company’s history.

Cognex, the Natick machine vision systems and bar code reader manufacturer, has reported record first quarter results, including a 241% increase compared to the previous year’s first quarter.

Natick machine vision systems and bar code reader manufacturer Cognex Corp. has announced that the company’s founder, Robert Shillman, will resign from the company’s board of directors and as an executive officer of Cognex.