The CEO of drone developer PrecisionHawk of Raleigh is out.
Jim Norrod, who took over the role for departing CEO Michael Chasen in 2020, has left the company. PrecisionHawk CFO T.J. Karr confirmed the news Wednesday but did not give details.
Norrod had posted on LinkedIn that PrecisionHawk was bought out by Norwegian technology firm Field Group, which Karr flatly denied.
In an email to Triangle Business Journal, Karr called Norrod’s post “unauthorized” and inaccurate.
“Field Group nor any other company has acquired PrecisionHawk,” he said.
Norrod, whose LinkedIn profile says he’s “open to work,” could not be reached for comment. He said in his now-deleted post that the acquisition created “the #1 Drone Services and Data Analytics company in the world.”
“Congratulations to the great team at PrecisionHawk that made this possible,” his LinkedIn post said. “Off to my next adventure.”
Field Group, a technology company that leverages software and geospatial technologies to provide customers with data and insights, did not return a request to comment.
Karr said the company has not been acquired and that since Norrod is no longer the CEO, he “had no authority to make any public statements about the company.”
Karr did not say when Norrod left the position, but Norrod’s LinkedIn page said he held the role through February 2023.
PrecisionHawk began as WineHawk, its first drones chasing birds away from vineyards. By 2012, it had expanded to other parts of agriculture, from scouting crops to assessing crop health. The firm’s first $1 million investment was led by Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat, who helped bring the company from Canada to Raleigh.
Over time, PrecisionHawk expanded its technology scope, and received a commercial waiver to fly drones beyond a pilot’s line of sight in 2015.
The company is headquartered in downtown Raleigh.
