Leadership change at Zappi as Aaron Kechley appointed CEO

Tech executive Kechley (pictured) has spent around 15 years working with software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses with a focus on data. He was formerly president at Inmar Intelligence, where he launched its retail media platform, and has also held leadership positions at Dataxu, later acquired by Roku.  

Phillips founded Zappi (then known as ZappiStore) in 2013 with Dave Birch and Brendon McLean. Phillips will transition to become executive chair and chief innovation officer, while Zappi president Ryan Barry remains in his current role, with a focus on expanding the company’s enterprise partnerships and connected insights system.

Based in Zappi’s Boston office, Kechley will lead a team of around 300 employees across 13 countries and work with Barry and Phillips to drive growth operations.

Zappi said the change of leadership would help it to execute an ‘ambitious’ growth strategy and boost its position in the consumer insights technology market. Phillips’ new role, meanwhile, is aimed at helping the company to continue driving AI advancements across its products.

Zappi’s enterprise customers include PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Mars and Heineken. The company’s platform is used to automate the consumer insights process for creating and validating ads and products.

In 2020, the company split its leadership into two teams, with Phillips responsible for chairing a futures team and Barry leading operations.

Steve Phillips, executive chair and chief innovation officer, Zappi, said: “It is with immense pride that we announce the next chapter in Zappi’s story. As an experienced operator of high-growth SaaS companies, I have the utmost confidence that Aaron Kechley is the best person to lead us into the future. I am excited to partner with Aaron in my new role to continue developing cutting-edge technology that helps our customers bring the voice of consumers into every strategic decision.”

Aaron Kechley, chief executive, Zappi, said: “I look forward to leading the company to achieve its vision of helping customers leverage consumer insights and data to build winning brands.”

Phillips was one of the co-authors of a book Zappi recently released in partnership with PepsiCo. Zappi’s Ryan Barry and PepsiCo’s Stephan Gans discussed insight maturity and the book in an interview published by Research Live.