Draft:Mike LeBlanc

Michael John LeBlanc is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and former United States Marine Corps Officer. He is co-founder, president and COO of Cobalt Robotics, a company backed by Sequoia Capital.

Early life and education
LeBlanc attended St. John's College in Annapolis, MD, graduating in 2009 with BA degrees in both Philosophy and Math, as well as minors in Comparative Literature and Classics. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2019.

Since graduating from HBS, Mike has been the protagonist in two Harvard Business School case studies, which focus on his past role at Cobalt Robotics.

Military service
LeBlanc began his career as a Marine Corps Infantry and Intelligence Officer, serving for 13 years, and leaving the service as a major. During his time in the Marine Corps he completed three tours of service in the Middle East, which included two combat tours to Afghanistan.

LeBlanc’s first tour of duty was in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. While serving as an advisor to the Afghan National Army, LeBlanc’s team faced an insider threat that manifest when one of their ANA partners shot at them from inside their base. LeBlanc, as a lieutenant, was responsible for the security of his advising team.

LeBlanc was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the Joint Service Achievement Medal during his military service.

Cobalt Robotics
LeBlanc founded Cobalt Robotics with Travis Deyle and Erik Schluntz after graduating from Harvard Business School. He has spoken on the strengths that veterans bring to the startup community, with veterans making up 30% of Cobalt's workforce.

He has been featured in numerous media outlets, including FOX8, Fast Company, ABC7, Axios, and Business Insider.