Catapult appoints former global senior Amazon executive as CEO, based in Boston
The Board of Catapult Group International Limited (ASX:CAT, ‘Catapult’ , or ‘the Company’) is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Will Lopes as Chief Executive Officer, commencing 11th November, 2019.
As the former Chief Revenue Officer of Amazon subsidiary Audible, Mr. Lopes brings world-class technology and growth experience from one of the world’s most successful technology businesses. With the North American and European markets comprising the majority of Catapult’s revenue, Mr. Lopes will relocate from New York and be based out of Catapult’s Boston office.
Mr. Lopes was attracted to Catapult’s global market leadership, strong history of innovation, and a revenue line that reached scale in FY19. He is excited by the opportunity to lead the company during a period of significant potential in a largely untapped market, and passionately believes that Catapult can grow substantially from its current size.
Consistent with Catapult’s strategy, a key area for Mr. Lopes will be accelerating the development and international roll-out of Catapult’s unique platform underpinning its elite sports performance technology stack. Mr. Lopes’ successful international career at Audible saw him lead dramatic revenue growth and a global staff of hundreds of employees. He personally scaled the business internationally to help reach millions of customers across 40 different languages, and developed extensive enterprise partnerships to accelerate this customer growth.
As CRO at Audible, Mr. Lopes reported directly to Audible’s Founder. He was responsible for revenue growth across the company and was a key leader on the executive management team responsible for overall business performance. Mr. Lopes’ experience at Audible spanned some 18 years and he was present through its various corporate structures, including as a NASDAQ-listed public company and through its acquisition by Amazon in 2008 as a significant subsidiary.
His previous roles at Audible include Executive VP International Operations, during which time Audible launched dedicated services in Australia, Japan, and Italy and saw exponential growth in the UK, Germany, and France. Will previously served as Managing Director of Audible UK, and prior to that was Vice President of Business Development, during which time he managed Audible’s mobile and social networking strategies, created new member acquisition channels, and developed strategic partnerships with brands including Apple, Ford, GM, Microsoft, and Phillips.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Lopes said:
“I am excited to bring my many years of executive experience and leadership to focus on improving the experience for our elite customers, and scaling our technology, processes and teams to help Catapult reach even more ambitious milestones.
“What attracted me to Catapult is its global technology leadership and the huge opportunity to keep innovating and redefining the performance of elite teams and athletes globally. Catapult is a business with strong financial fundamentals that has the potential to become the Salesforce of the sports performance technology world.”
Commenting on Will Lopes’ appointment, Catapult Executive Chairman Dr. Adir Shiffman said:
“The Board is delighted to appoint an international executive of Will’s calibre. Will is a proven leader who has successfully scaled revenue and operations for one of the world’s leading technology- and customer-focused businesses. He has excellent strategic and commercial aptitude and joins Catapult at such an exciting time in the Company’s history. Will’s experience globally scaling one of the world’s most successful subscription technology companies is exactly what the Board has been searching for.
“Catapult is the established global leader in elite sports performance technology with incredible growth potential. Today, most of Catapult’s revenue and growth is driven by our elite subscription software (SaaS) business. It has been the engine room of our earnings momentum and accelerating revenue growth, and we are confident this high-margin/low-churn revenue will drive us to positive free cash flow by FY21.
“With Will as CEO, the Board is confident that we have a leader with global experience, huge ambition, and the proven ability to help us create the most impactful and successful technology company in world sport.”
For media and investor enquiries please contact:
Boden Westover
Group Marketing Director
boden@catapultsports.com
Andrew Keys
Investor Relations
investor.relations@catapultsports.com