SAN JOSE, Calif.– Energous Corporation (Nasdaq: WATT), the developer of WattUp® technology, today announced that Cesar Johnston has been appointed chief executive officer effective Dec. 6, 2021. Johnston has been with the company for the past seven years, first serving as chief operating officer and executive vice president of engineering, and as acting CEO since July 2021.
“Cesar has maintained a focus on execution and business strategy during this interim period and has guided Energous through an impressive wave of recent regulatory approvals of our wireless power transfer technology,” said Dan Fairfax, chairman of the Energous board of directors. “The board was pleased to appoint Cesar as chief executive officer to lead our march to open up new global markets for our products and offerings. His deep understanding of RF power and expertise in the rapidly evolving applications for wireless charging were critical to our decision to elevate him to full-time CEO. We’re proud to make this announcement and are looking forward to working with Cesar.”
Johnston’s appointment as CEO follows several recent regulatory approvals for Energous’ WattUp wireless power transfer technology, including the first regulatory approval of Energous’ 1W WattUp PowerBridge transmitter in Asia for RF-based power transfer at any distance, U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval for 10W of wireless power transfer up to one meter and U.S. and European regulatory approval for both Energous’ WattUp PowerHub and the 1W WattUp PowerBridge. These developments are expected to open new market opportunities for Energous’ wireless charging technology across the globe.
“Energous is the leader in RF wireless power networks, and I look forward to working with the board and our entire team to achieve the company’s full business and technology potential,” Johnston said. “With a strong focus on applications that support distance transmission for IoT wireless power networks and with the momentum our business has headed into 2022, we’re excited about what’s to come.”
Johnston brings to the CEO role over 25 years of experience in the RF wireless connectivity and RF wireless charging business. He held senior engineering roles at Marvell and Broadcom before joining Energous in 2014, where he has been responsible for the company’s management, technical direction, and pioneering research and development to produce Energous’ state-of-the-art RF-based wireless power transfer technologies. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering and a certificate of business excellence (COBE) from the University of California, Berkeley.
