The company has promoted Vice President of Engineering Samir Kapoor to senior vice president of device engineering, reporting to Co-founder and CTO Eric Friedman.
Kapoor brings nearly 20 years of engineering management experience, most recently having spent 10 years with Qualcomm, and will be responsible for streamlining the integration between firmware, hardware and advanced R&D, with the goal of speeding up the company’s product development process. In addition, as previously announced, Jeff Devine has joined Fitbit as executive vice president of operations. Devine brings more than 25 years of operating experience scaling global technology brands including Cisco, Nokia, and Hewlett-Packard. He will be responsible for operations, customer service, and overall quality, reporting to co-founder and CEO James Park.
“Jeff and Samir bring valuable experience to our leadership team and these new roles will help us increase speed and efficiency throughout the company as we continue to create world-class health and fitness solutions that people can’t live without,” said Park.
The company also announced the departure of two executives by the end of the month: Woody Scal, chief business officer, and Tim Roberts, executive vice president, interactive.
“Woody and Tim were two of Fitbit’s first employees and I’d like to thank them for their many contributions over the years, and for helping make Fitbit the category leader it is today. Over the past six years, Woody was instrumental in creating a world-class health and fitness brand and pioneering its entry into digital health. He led the growth of our business from $5 million to over $2 billion in revenue with over 60 million devices sold via 55,000 storefronts in 64 countries. During that same period, Tim played a key role in creating one of the world’s largest health and fitness social networks and an interactive experience that tens of millions of Fitbit users around the world love,” said Park.
In addition, Fitbit will formally align around two areas of focus: Consumer Health and Fitness and Enterprise Health. Consumer Health and Fitness will focus on delivering a streamlined set of health and fitness devices, entering new markets such as the smartwatch category and offering premium software and services that provide more personalized insights and guidance. Enterprise Health will expand on the company’s early successes in working with insurance companies, employers, health systems and other healthcare partners.
“2017 is a transition year and while we continue to lead the connected health and fitness market, we must take important steps to chart our return to profitability and growth. It is essential that we are organized properly so that we can successfully execute our strategy,” said Park. “My confidence in our future is as strong as ever and I believe the steps we are taking will contribute to our long-term success.”
Photo courtesy Fitbit
