John Dulchinos – the globally recognized face of leading U.S.-based robotics manufacturer, Adept Technology – has resigned as President, CEO and director of the company along with John Boutsikaris, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing.

This announcement comes soon after Dulchinos’ blunt second-quarter earnings call, where he announced a net loss that had quintupled year-over-year to $5.2 million.

Dulchinos orally communicated his resignation on February 19, and submitted a written resignation to the Board February 20. Boutsikaris tendered his resignation February 21, to be effective March 7, 2013.

The Man from Hale Capital Partners

Robert Cain has been appointed to replace Dulchinos by Adept’s Board of Directors. The company’s public statement suggests that Cain, acting as a consultant to the company, is responsible for much of the turnaround strategy outlined in our recent article, Adept Resets for 2013.

Clearly, Adept’s Board has placed its confidence in Cain’s ability to orchestrate a swift and significant return to profitability based on his track record rehabilitating struggling tech companies such as Telanetix (telepresence) and Avure Technologies (industrial presses).

He is also a Hale Capital Partners Operating Partner (Adept recently closed a private placement with Hale Capital Partners for $8M).

Adept’s letter of agreement with Cain, dated February 22, 2013, entitles the new CEO to an annual salary of $250,000, bonus potential up to $50,000 for attaining performance objectives to be defined and options to purchase up to 75,000 shares of Adept common stock at an exercise price of $4.60, with one-third of the shares vesting upon achievement of one of three specified Adept financial and new product and customer sales performance targets.

While Dulchinos has not publicly announced his next move, the former CEO is one for the robotics industry to watch. His vast experience, passion and global connections will no doubt lead him in promising (and profitable) new directions.

The following press release was issued by Adept Technology:

Adept Technology, Inc., a leading provider of intelligent robots and autonomous mobile solutions and services, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Rob Cain as President and Chief Executive Officer succeeding John Dulchinos, who has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the Company.

As new CEO, Mr. Cain, 47, brings to the company over 25 years of experience in the high tech and capital equipment industries combined with a mechanical engineering and graduate business education.

He has been a key figure in the turnaround and return to double digit growth of multiple companies, most recently at Telanetix as COO and prior to that at Avure Technologies as the SVP of Operations.

Working with Adept over the past several months in an advisory capacity, Mr. Cain has been a primary architect of the restructuring plan adopted by the company and now leads the corporate vision towards an increased emphasis on profitable growth in both its traditional markets and the new exciting mobile business.

“Rob came to our attention because of his strong execution skills, his proven ability to lead top performing teams and his track record in driving shareholder value,” said Mike Kelly, Adept’s Chairman.

“We have been impressed by his emphasis on a culture of accountability and execution as well as a vision for top and bottom line growth, developing internal talent while reaching outside for new skills. Additionally, his straightforward style and relentless positive energy is the kind of leadership we want at Adept.”

Cain stated, “Adept is one of the world’s great automation companies and a global brand, with a proud history of innovation, outstanding talent and market leading positions in many of its product lines and services. It’s an honor to join its leadership team and have the opportunity to build on its success.

Our future is focused on profitable growth, and increasing our market share through the development of innovative products and services that add value to our customers.

Adept’s employees are some of the brightest minds in the automation business and have delivered solutions to many of the world’s leading companies. I look forward to serving with them,” Cain went on to say.

Mike Kelly added, “John Dulchinos was very passionate about the business and we sincerely wish him success in his next business endeavor.”