Magic Leap Appoints Former Belden Executive Ross Rosenberg as CEO

Magic Leap, an augmented reality (AR) platform, appointed Ross Rosenberg as its new CEO.

Effective Nov. 1, Rosenberg, an experienced technology executive, will succeed Peggy Johnson, who is stepping down after guiding the company through a multiyear transformation into an AR platform, Magic Leap said in a Wednesday (Oct. 25) press release.

“As companies begin to see true [return on investment (ROI)] from deploying AR technologies, there is now a clear need state that Magic Leap is capable of solving for,” Rosenberg said in the release.

During Johnson’s time as CEO, Magic Leap expanded the commercial adoption of its AR platform technology, the release said. Now, with the enterprise AR market beginning to merge around specific use cases and verticals, Rosenberg will drive the next phase of Magic Leap’s growth.

Rosenberg has experience in operating, strategy and marketing roles, according to the release. His previous roles include positions at Danaher, First Solar and Belden. In these roles, he “led the launch, development and acquisition of new technologies, products and services.”

In his previous position as an operating executive at Bain Capital’s software portfolio, Rosenberg led the transformation at Rocket Software, a large-scale enterprise IT software company, per the release.

In her time at Magic Leap, Johnson stabilized the company and launched Magic Leap 2, the release said. Magic Leap also secured collaborations with technology players, along with licensing and contract manufacturing agreements with tech companies.

“Having accomplished so much of what I set out to do at Magic Leap, I felt the time had come to transition leadership to a new CEO who can guide the company through its next period of growth,” Johnson said.

In another development in the AR space, Google announced Wednesday that it has expanded the availability of its AR beauty features to mobile browsers, enabling shoppers to try on hair color and foundation virtually from any mobile browser in the United States.

More than 50 beauty brands offer AR try-on experiences on Google. In the coming weeks, AR lip and eye makeup will also be available on mobile.