Instacart appoints insider Chris Rogers as CEO

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(Reuters) -Delivery platform Instacart on Wednesday said it has appointed company insider Chris Rogers as chief executive officer, effective August 15, as the current head Fidji Simo is set to exit to join OpenAI.

The new CEO appointment follows Simo’s surprise appointment as OpenAI’s chief of applications earlier this month.

Rogers, who currently serves as the platform’s chief business officer, had previously served as the managing director for Apple Canada.

“We’ll invent the future of grocery with our partners by continuing to invest in cutting-edge enterprise tools and technologies, as well as enhance our leading advertising ecosystem,” said Rogers in a blog post related to the appointment.

Instacart, also known as Maplebear, said Simo will stay on as chair to support the transition. Simo is set to start her new job at OpenAI later this year.

“Because everything we (Instacart) do is in partnership with our retail and brand partners, there isn’t a single thing we’ve done in the last few years that Chris hasn’t had his fingerprints on,” said Simo in a memo.

Instacart had forecast upbeat quarterly core profit earlier this month, after beating the first-quarter core profit estimate on resilient demand for groceries and food on its delivery platform as more people shop online.

“From our retail enablement strategy and omnichannel expansion to the massive growth and evolution of our advertising platform, Chris has been a driving force behind all of these initiatives,” Simo added.

(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)