SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Whistle has announced the addition of Jef Holove to the San Francisco-based pet brand’s board of directors and three new senior appointments. Holove is widely regarded as one of the pioneering leaders in connected devices and a well-respected CEO, having led teams at Eye-Fi and, most recently, Basis. He now holds the role of general manager in Intel's New Devices Group, following the 2014 acquisition of Basis. Over the past several months, Holove has acted as an advisor to Whistle’s executive team and has a strong understanding of the company’s opportunities.
“Jef has been a leading visionary at the intersection of technology and health since its earliest days and will play an essential role in driving the Whistle brand forward,” said Ben Jacobs, Whistle Co-Founder and CEO. “Expanding Whistle’s leadership team and board is another exciting signal of the continued growth our brand has experienced this year. There is a lot of momentum and new brands joining the $60 billion per year pet industry, especially in the last 18 months. The expertise from proven leaders will ensure Whistle remains the frontrunner when it comes to smart and essential products for pet owners.”
Whistle has also tapped Heather Wajer, former vice president of marketing at the LIVESTRONG Foundation, as the company’s first chief marketing officer. Wajer will work closely with the founding team comprised of CEO Ben Jacobs, COO Steven Eidelman, and CTO Kevin Lloyd. She brings with her more than 15 years of global brand development and marketing strategy for technology and consumer-focused organizations.
Previously, Wajer was CMO of music subscription company, MOG (acquired by Beats Electronics in 2012) where she led growth of the customer base to roughly 500,000 active users. As CMO, Wajer will focus on Whistle’s customer marketing efforts, strategic partnerships and lead the growing marketing division.
Additional recent senior leadership moves include product development veteran, Daniel Harman as director of product and Brad Taylor as vice president of software to oversee the ongoing development of the expanding pet-health platform. Harman joined from Australian-founded Nitro, and will run the product and design team at Whistle. Taylor joined Whistle as an early team member in 2013 and served as director of software.
Whistle’s leadership expansion follows the January acquisition of Snaptracs. To date, the brand has raised $21M in two financing rounds.
ABOUT WHISTLE
Whistle is the world leader in pet health and safety solutions, creating smart products and a mobile platform that seeks to help pets live longer, healthier and happier lives. Through intuitive devices like the flagship Whistle Activity Monitor and the Tagg GPS Plus Pet Tracker, and the largest comparative database of pet health information, Whistle provides meaningful insights into the lives of our pets to enable a new era of preventative care. For more information visit www.Whistle.com.