Instacart Ops VP Mike Swartz Departs

Instacart VP of Operations Mike Swartz has left the company after just more than one year, the San Francisco-based delivery service has confirmed.

According to Swartz’s LinkedIn profile, he joined Instacart in February 2016, boasting roughly a decade of experience at Seattle-based ecommerce behemoth Amazon.com, which he left as director of operational excellence. Between the two roles, he spent four years as SVP of operations with beauty and cosmetic products retailer Folica Inc., followed by another four years as an independent consultant.

“He's been a great asset to our team in the last year, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Instacart noted. “It's always sad to see someone go, but we are continuing to focus on building out an excellent bench in leadership, including our new CMO, Cheryl Law, and recently promoted team members Sunil Raman, VP of operations strategy; Sagar Sanghavi, VP, corporate development and strategy of finance; and Andrew Nodes, VP, retail accounts.”

Although it’s unknown why Swartz left Instacart, it’s understood that the company has dealt with its share of problems lately, most recently settling a class action for $4.6 million after independent contractors working for the company claimed 18 violations, including “improper tip pooling and failure to reimburse workers for business expenses.” Tech news website Recode reported that the third-party delivery provider overhauled its pay structure last fall, replacing workers’ default tips with a default service fee Instacart claimed at the time to collect and put toward worker pay. Additionally, the site said that the company has cut pay for its workers twice within 10 months, first last March, and second this January.