Renovata Finds Chief Product Officer for IDnow
December 12, 2018 – Renovata, a global executive search firm with offices in London, New York, Berlin and Stockholm, has placed Vikas Seth as chief product officer of IDnow in Munich.
Partner Thomas Jepsen led the assignment.
“We are delighted to continue building out the senior team at IDnow as it gains momentum as the leader in identity automation,” said Mr. Jepsen. “IDnow is designed to solve the problems of security and identity whilst maintaining seamlessness and simplicity for users. And Vikas has both the cybersecurity and product design credentials to lead these efforts.”
Mr. Seth is an experienced software product management and development professional who has held technical, management and leadership roles across three continents. He successfully developed and launched multiple new products in cybersecurity, SaaS and mobile, in both consumer and business-to-business markets. His career began with Gemalto. He later moved to Honeywell, where he rose from developer via engineering to senior product management.
Since 2008, he has worked exclusively at the director, product management level for a raft of first-class technology businesses including RSA, AVG Technologies and Avira. In all of these roles he was responsible for the development, launch and ongoing competitiveness of business-critical products with associated P&L/revenue ownership.
Reporting directly to CEO, Rupert Spiegelberg, Mr. Seth will be in charge of product lifecycle from conception to launch of a series of innovative identity-as-a-service products built on IDnow’s new and integrated identity-as-a-service platform.
Founded in 2014, IDnow is one of Europe’s fastest growing fintech companies and a nominee for the 2018 Fintech50 list of hottest European start-ups. Its Identity-as-a-Service platform can verify more than seven billion people from 65 different countries in moments.
Headquartered in London, Renovata’s team has more than 15 years’ experience building management teams for progressive businesses seeking disruptive leaders. Its team of industry and sector specialists help both high growth and large global companies recruit high impact leadership talent across all commercial and technical functions.
Some of Renovata’s clients include: Dropbox, Spotify, Just Eat, Appnexus, Criteo, Expedia, Tesco, Sound Cloud, Deezer, Eyem, Rebtel, Viagogo, Skype, MOO, Livebookings, Skyscanner and Teads, among others.
Chief Product Officers
Today’s chief product officer is responsible for all product-related matters, according to recruiters. The post typically includes product conception and development, production, innovation and project & product management. In many IT/ telecommunications companies, the position includes release management and production. Chief product officers generally work on product strategy based on goals set by the CEO and/ or board members.
New Officer Level Roles
A handful of new C-suite titles have been cropping up at businesses around the globe, say leading search consultants. A recent report by Odgers Berndtson found that executives climbing the corporate ladder are in hot pursuit of titles that include the words “chief” and “officer.” Among them: chief happiness officer, chief privacy officer, chief people officer, chief digital officer, chief knowledge officer, chief customer officer, chief luminary officer, chief innovation officer and chief observance officer.
Kodak and Dell a few years ago appointed chief listeners; Facebook has chief privacy officers; Microsoft has a chief people officer; Coca-Cola has a chief quality and product integrity officer. Steve Jobs called himself chief know-all.
Here is an overview of unique officer-level positions being filled by leading recruitment firms from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:
The Onstott Group placed Christina Van Houten as chief strategy officer of Mimecast Limited. Managing director Scott Tucker led the assignment. Ms. Van Houten is charged with driving corporate development, product management and market strategy as part of building out Mimecast’s email security, archive and cyber resilience cloud platform.
Beverly Hills, CA-based executive recruitment firm Ventura Partners has placed Courtney Gruber as the new chief retail officer for drybar, a blowout hair salon chain. Ventura founder and partner Julie Ford led the search. The chief retail officer role, more commonly known as vice president of retail, encompasses running all retail operations.
Higher Education Leadership Search has been selected by the University of Texas of the Permian Basin to lead in its search for a chief compliance officer. Consultants Geralyn Franklin and Alan Medders are leading the assignment. The University of Texas of the Permian Basin is a general academic university of the University of Texas System.
Executive search firm McCormack+Kristel has been retained by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to lead in its search for a chief program officer. Managing partner Joseph McCormack and partner Michelle Kristel are leading the assignment. LAHSA is committed to ending homelessness through leadership, advocacy, and management of program funding.
Freehold, NJ-based Prodigy Sports, a nationwide leader in top-level sports recruiting, has placed Gord Lang as chief growth officer with Engine Shop. Founder and chief executive officer Scott Carmichael led the search. Mr. Lang had been chief growth officer at Octagon Marketing, which he joined in 2001.
The housing group Win, formerly Women In Need, has been transforming the lives of New York City’s homeless families for more than 30 years. The organization recently enlisted executive recruitment firm Bridge Partners to find a chief program officer. Partner and co-founder Tory Clarke is leading the search along with partner Janet Albert.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
