CEO of Chewy pet e-commerce firm to step down
Sumit Singh is new leader of online retailer
Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen is exiting his CEO role. The online pet retailer based in Dania Beach will be led by Sumit Singh, who joined the company in August as chief operating officer from Amazon Fresh Worldwide.
In a news release Thursday announcing the change, Cohen said the past seven years building Chewy “have been a tremendous journey and the learning experience of a lifetime … I feel the time is right for me to pass on the torch so I can pursue personal goals and spend time with my family.”
In a talk in January before the Florida Venture Capital Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Cohen described himself as “obsessive, relentless and contrarian.” One example: He spent nights looking for any negative comments on the company’s website in an effort to improve. “When customers shop with us, I want them to have the perfect experience,” he said.
Raymond Svider, a managing partner at BC Partners and executive chairman of PetSmart, said Cohen “has built a unique and powerful e-commerce business that is laser-focused on serving the needs of customers and their pets. I have full confidence that this will continue under the leadership of Sumit [Singh], a seasoned e-commerce leader who is well-equipped to carry Chewy’s strategy forward and grow the company.”
Before Amazon Fresh, Singh worked for Dell. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in operations and logistics from the University of Texas at Austin.
In South Florida, Chewy has become a major employer, with 1,500 people at its Dania Beach headquarters and new Hollywood customer service center.
Asked whether a new CEO would affect Chewy’s South Florida headquarters location, spokeswoman Roxsanne Tai said she had no comment beyond the news release.
Chewy was founded in 2011 by Cohen and Michael “Blake” Day, millennials who reportedly met in a computer chat room. Last year, the company was sold for about $3.35 billion to PetSmart in the largest e-commerce transaction ever.