Ben Wolff

Benjamin G. Wolff is an American business executive and former attorney. He co-founded the wireless-broadband company Clearwire and served as its president and chief executive officer during its early expansion and its combination with Sprint Nextel's WiMAX business. He later led ICO Global Communications, a satellite communications company, and co-founded the independent robotics company that acquired Raytheon's Sarcos unit in 2015. Wolff was chief executive and chairman of Sarcos from 2015 until 2021, when the company became publicly traded through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company. He returned as president and chief executive officer in February 2024 after Sarcos discontinued its hardware-development operations to focus on artificial-intelligence software, and he led its renaming as Palladyne AI.

Early life and education Wolff was born in Santa Barbara, California, and grew up on California's Central Coast. As a teenager, he worked for an electrical contractor and established a retail business selling spas, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves. While attending college full time, he was also marketing director for an agricultural business. He received a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College (now Lewis & Clark Law School) in 1994. In interviews and industry appearances, he argued that the company's large holdings of 2.5 GHz spectrum could support an open network and data-intensive mobile services.

Wolff helped negotiate Clearwire's 2008 combination with Sprint Nextel's Xohm WiMAX unit. The transaction created a company valued at approximately $14.5 billion and included $3.2 billion of investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners. Wolff subsequently selected and announced members of the combined company's senior management team.

Wolff served as CEO until 2009, when he became co-chairman of the board following the appointment of William Morrow as CEO. He resigned from the company's board in 2011.

ICO Global Communications Wolff became acting chief executive of satellite-communications company ICO Global Communications in December 2009 and was appointed chief executive, president and chairman in February 2010. The company was subsequently renamed Pendrell Corporation and shifted its emphasis toward acquiring, managing and licensing intellectual property.

Under Wolff, Pendrell purchased a controlling interest in digital-rights-management company ContentGuard for $90.1 million in 2011 and acquired additional patent portfolios, including patents and applications from Nokia relating to flash-memory technology. He resigned as chief executive, president and a director in November 2014.

Sarcos and Palladyne AI In January 2015, Wolff and Sarcos executive Fraser Smith led an investor group that acquired Raytheon's Sarcos robotics unit.

In 2021, Wolff negotiated Sarcos's merger with Rotor Acquisition Corporation. The transaction valued the combined company at $1.3 billion. In 2025, Palladyne completed several acquisitions that expanded its defense business.

Board memberships Wolff has been a director of satellite-communications company Globalstar since 2018, where he serves as the chair of the Board’s Strategic Review Committee. He has also served as a director of Palladyne and its predecessor since 2015.

Recognition The American Lawyer included Wolff in its 2003 “45 Under 45” selection of private-practice lawyers.