Name: Sarah Romano
New title: CFO, SS Innovations International
Previous title: CFO, Vicarious Surgical
SS Innovations International has named Sarah Romano as its CFO, hiring the finance executive from rival robotic surgery company Vicarious Surgical. Romano will step into a position that has been held by a series of executives over the past year.
Romano became Vicarious’ CFO in April 2025 and told the company of her resignation last month. With Romano set to leave Vicarious on July 22, SS Innovations has revealed that she will start as its CFO on Aug. 3. Before joining Vicarious, Romano worked as CFO of the drug developers Entero Therapeutics and Kiora Pharmaceuticals.
SS Innovations highlighted Romano’s work to reduce Vicarious’ cash burn and strengthen the company’s balance sheet. During Romano’s time at Vicarious, the company outsourced robot development work, reduced its headcount and reorganized internal teams to lower its spending.
The actions reflected pressures on a company that lacked the money to fund operations for 12 months when Romano became CFO. SS Innovations faces similar pressures, telling investors in May that its cash and operating income are not expected to fund operations and business development through the next 12 months.
SS Innovations filed for 510(k) clearance for its SSi Mantra surgical robotic system in December. Getting 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration would unlock the U.S. market, diversifying sales of a system that is primarily used in India. In the first quarter, the company sold 18 SSi Mantra surgical robotic systems, with 99% of revenue from India.
The company has worked to grow sales amid turnover at the top of its finance department. Anup Sethi stepped down as CFO in April 2025. Arvind Palaniappan filled the post on an interim basis, only to step down after about 12 weeks in the job. Vishwajyoti Srivastava was the next interim CFO.
Naveen Kumar Amar became SS Innovations’ next permanent CFO in September but left for personal reasons at the start of 2026. Two weeks later, Milan Rao started as permanent CFO. Rao stepped down in May, creating the vacancy that Romano will fill when she starts at the company next month.
