Community sharing app OLIO has recruited a full C-suite of eight senior hires from leading tech companies.
The new arrivals will support co-founders Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One as they seek to fulfil their ambition of achieving a billion OLIO users by 2030.
Following a period of rapid growth for the waste-reduction pioneer – which now has more than five million users worldwide – OLIO has invested heavily in new talent to scale even more rapidly.
Iona Carter joins the team as chief brand officer following roles at Plum Guide and Sony Music, where she was responsible for leading on brand strategy for global artists including Beyonce, George Ezra and Daft Punk.
Carter will be responsible for developing OLIO into a mainstream success story, unlocking the enormous whitespace opportunity for the app to become a global iconic sustainability brand.
Alex Higgs, former director of product strategy at Just Eat, has been appointed as OLIO’s new chief product officer. He will work alongside Fabian Diaz who joins as chief technology officer from Amazon, who will be responsible for trebling OLIO’s tech team from 15 to 45 people this year.
Alberto Lo Bue joins as managing director of OLIO’s Food Waste Heroes programme, after successfully building Deliveroo’s ‘Deliveroo for Work’ offering – which generated multi-million-pound revenues across 11 countries.
Lo Bue will be responsible for cementing OLIO’s position as an essential partner to businesses wanting to achieve zero edible food waste, thanks to 40,000+ volunteers who collect and redistribute surplus food to the local community via the app. Clients include Tesco, Pret a Manger, Booker and KFC.
OLIO’s new director of international expansion is Tess Kermode, who previously held senior positions at Citigroup and, most recently, as Uber’s business development and strategic partnership lead for sustainability and loyalty programmes in EMEA.
Kermode will drive OLIO’s international expansion with a specific focus on Mexico, Singapore and Ireland in the first instance, where the brand has already experienced rapid organic growth.
Thaisa Money, people and culture director, brings experience from Geckoboard and Capitalise.com.
Gareth Main, director of growth, is formerly part of the team responsible for establishing The Guardian newspaper’s first reader revenue strategy.
Rohan Sheth, chief of staff, is a former investment banker and strategy consultant. He will lead OLIO’s finance and legal & compliance teams, as well as cross-functional strategic projects.
“OLIO is going through an incredibly exciting metamorphosis in response to the explosive growth we’ve experienced through the pandemic and beyond,” said co-founder Clarke.
“Saasha and I are absolutely thrilled by the calibre of our new senior leadership team, and can’t wait to work with them to accelerate OLIO towards 1 billion OLIOers.
“Their passion for our mission, depth of commercial expertise and leadership abilities are second to none, and it’s an enormous privilege to be working together to unlock the full potential of OLIO.”