GRUBBRR, the commerce automation company at the forefront of self-ordering technologies, announced today that Patrick Laney is starting as the new Chief Operations Officer. As Chief Operations Officer, Patrick is responsible for managing the deployment, implementation, customer service and customer success teams as well as identifying resources, systems and personnel to develop and implement systematic processes to address the demands of GRUBBRR’s growth.
Commenting on GRUBBRR’s rapid growth, Laney says, “In the next ten years, I expect to walk into most fast food, retail, and grocers in the United States and transact on a Kiosk provided by GRUBBRR.” As Chief Operations Officer, Laney steps into a pivotal role for GRUBBRR’s scaling, bolstering these efforts by defining, and implementing, an overall strategy for infrastructure optimization.
Prior to joining GRUBBRR, Patrick co-founded Performance Drone Works (PDW). He helped start PDW after seven years at Lockheed Martin (LM) where he served as General Manager of Lockheed Martin’s portfolio of unmanned systems businesses. Patrick led the combined businesses to $35 million in annual sales and led an organization of 90+ staff with offices in four locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Patrick also co-founded CDL Systems USA which was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2012. CDL specialized in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control software, with its major success being the adoption of its product by the U.S. Army as a common control software for the Shadow, Hunter and Gray Eagle UAVs.
Starting his career as a naval aviator attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Patrick then graduated from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). He flew the F/A-18C Hornet accumulating over 1,500 flight hours, 300+ carrier landings, and two deployments supporting middle east operations. Patrick was awarded two Air Medals for completing over 40 combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He holds a degree in business administration from Boston University and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is also an alumnus of the MIT Human Automation Lab, where he led research using automation to reduce cognitive loads on unmanned aerial systems operators.
“I believe in Sam’s vision for GRUBBRR,” Laney says. “Well executed, there is no reason why GRUBBRR can’t be as successful as Salesforce, Atlassian, or Hubspot. This is going to be super-stressful but also, super exciting.”
