Dive Brief:
- Bark on Tuesday named Zahir Ibrahim as its new chief financial officer, effective immediately. He will report to CEO and founder Matt Meeker.
- Ibrahim has almost three decades of financial experience and joins the pet company from Do Good Foods — a startup that focuses on turning grocery surplus into animal feed — where he served as CFO and chief administrative officer. He’s also previously served as the CFO for food companies Kind and Annie’s.
- Ibrahim succeeds Howard Yeaton, who has been serving as interim chief financial officer of Bark since November 2021. Yeaton will remain with the company through a short transition period.
Dive Insight:
As Bark chases growth, it’s looking to a seasoned consumer goods veteran to lead its financial team.
In addition to financial experience, Ibrahim has a background leading well-known brands through M&A deals, including Mars’ acquisition of Kind and General Mills’ acquisition of Annie’s.
“Zahir’s experience driving business performance at public and private companies, and deep familiarity with consumer brands across digital and retail channels will be exceptionally beneficial as we accelerate our path to profitability and deliver value to all of our stakeholders,” Meeker said in a statement.
With Ibrahim’s appointment, the search for a permanent CFO finally ends after over a year. Former CFO John Toth in September 2021 announced he would step down from his role “to spend more time with his family on the West Coast,” but said he intended to stay on until a successor was named to ensure a smooth transition. In November 2021, though, Toth announced he would resign from the company, and the company appointed Yeaton in the interim.
The company has experienced other changes to its C-suite in recent years. In 2021, Anil Nair, Amazon’s former director of global logistics, joined Bark as its chief supply chain officer. And in 2022, Meeker reclaimed his role as CEO — just 16 months after stepping down from the position — and Cindy Gustafson, a former Nike and WW International veteran, joined as chief marketing officer. Bark also named Aarti Sharma as its chief people officer in November.
Ibrahim joins at a significant time for the company as it continues to scale and work toward profitability. Bark reported second-quarter revenue increased 20% year over year to $143.8 million, while its active subscriptions increased 7.3% to 2.2 million. However, the company reported an operating loss of $9.1 million and a net loss of $10.6 million.
