Formic Announces Strategic Leadership Additions to Power Business Growth and Finance Infrastructure

Joel Onyshuk joins Formic as VP of Sales to scale the company’s business footprint, and Todd Plotner joins as the company’s first General Counsel to strengthen finance infrastructure.

CHICAGO, December 12, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Formic, a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) automation provider for U.S. manufacturers, officially announced the addition of Joel Onyshuk as its Vice President of Sales and Todd Plotner as the company’s first General Counsel. Following continued business growth and an additional Series A financing round of $27.4 million in June, Onyshuk and Plotner’s collective industry experience supports the company’s goal to accelerate the adoption of automation across American manufacturing.

“This announcement comes amid rapid business growth and a commitment to innovating faster, driving better outcomes, and building even better systems and processes for our partners and customers,” said Saman Farid, Formic CEO. “Joel brings vast industry experience and new sales expertise to the team, while Todd serves to bolster the legal infrastructure critical to delivering our full-service automation solutions to customers.”

Onyshuk will lead the continued evolution of the sales team to deliver our Full Service Palletizers to the CPG market, build out Formic’s overall business footprint, and drive revenue growth for the business. He joins the team with impressive experience serving the food and beverage market. As an early employee at Redzone, he worked with the owners to grow the company from $7 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $100 million ARR in six years, leading to an acquisition of $1 billion, or 10x the company revenue. He also co-founded Unisyn and served as the Senior Vice President of Atana, Inc., where he overhauled the sales team and tools, leading to the growth of the company’s average ASP and value-per-opportunity by 100% in 6 months.

“This is the dream job for someone like me,” Onyshuk said. “I’ve had the pleasure of being a trusted advisor to the food, beverage, and CPG manufacturing world for many years, and nothing is more exciting than being back in that world again in this role, especially at this stage in Formic’s journey. Growing and coaching our sales team to be world-class and prepared to deliver 300% growth in 2025 is my biggest focus and passion, and we will be successful.”

In his new role, Plotner will support financial planning and analysis and Formic’s asset finance infrastructure critical for service delivery. He joins with 25 years of experience in equipment leasing, securitization, and structured finance. While a Partner at Chicago-based Chapman and Cutler LLP, Plotner represented Wall Street banks, specialty finance companies, and start-ups. He also advised companies on financing arrangements for a variety of assets including industrial equipment.

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