Upshop Names New CEO
Upshop is mixing things up. The Austin, Texas -based store operations tech company announced that it has hired Mike Sanders to serve as the new CEO. Current CEO Shamus Hines will transition to a strategic role on the board of directors, where he will help guide the company’s global expansion.
Sanders joins Upshop from Kaseya, a global provider of AI-driven IT and cybersecurity solutions. There, he helped scale operations to support customers around the world and develop customer-centric solutions. In his new position at the helm of Upshop, Sanders will spearhead efforts to speed and support innovations across the company’s unified store operations platform.
[RELATED: Why Stakeholders Shouldn’t Be Complacent About FSMA 204]
"We’re making the move after seeing through the promises we have been making. If you look at the diversity of customers, what’s ahead for our roadmap, and the operational rigor of demands, now is the right time for a leader who can scale operations with excellence,” Mike Weber, the recently promoted chief growth officer at Upshop, told Progressive Grocer in an interview. “Mike has experience with platform unification and global roll out. It’s good to have leadership who can apply expertise from serving thousands of customers and millions of users."
He continued, “Shamus loves the strategic role to shepherd the vision. Mike Sanders is coming in to ensure customer’s expectations are met and exceeded on a global scale."
Hines is moving to the board after steering the SaaS tech company through a period of substantial growth. Under his leadership, Upshop deployed the industry’s first full unified SaaS platform for food retailers to streamline forecasting, ordering, production and inventory optimization. The platform expanded to over 450 retailers and more than 50,000 stores around the world during his tenure.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Mike to lead Upshop through its next chapter,” Hines said. “His proven track record of operational excellence and scaling global software organizations makes him the ideal leader as we build the organizational capabilities needed to meet our customers’ demands to innovate faster. I’m genuinely excited about the tremendous impact Mike will have on our business as I transition to a board role.”
To Hines’ point, Upshop continues to refine and roll out solutions to retailers that enable them to boost sales reduce shrink and optimize store execution. At its recent Altitude event in Austin, the company announced the launch of Total Store Ordering capabilities and highlighted other recent innovations.
Sanders, meanwhile, says he is eager to get to work delivering on promises of total store transformation. “Our customers’ needs are clear: simplify operations, drive efficiencies and help stores sell more while reducing waste. I’m excited to build on Upshop’s strong foundation and accelerate results for every customer we serve.”
