Joe Powell takes CEO role at Catapult for growth

Catapult boss Shaun Holthouse says the time is right to “hand over his baby” to former Seek executive Joe Powell.

Shaun Holthouse, left, with his replacement as chief executive of Catapult, Joe Powell, in Melbourne’s Docklands. Picture: David Geraghty

Catapult chief executive Shaun Holthouse says the time is now right to “hand over his baby” to former Seek executive Joe Powell on May 1.

Mr Holthouse said he had watched the company grow from two employees more than a decade ago to nearly 250 and the time had come to bring in a more ­experienced CEO.

“It’s been a live conversation I’ve been having with the board for frankly a long time,” Mr Holt­house told The Australian. “We wanted someone who could help us accelerate; we’re out of start-up phase now.

“We keep telling the market and investors that our market cap today is three or four hundred million, but we’re not aspiring to be a billion-dollar company. We want to be a $10bn, globally significant company.

“In that journey there’s a lot of execution to be done, and when we get to those decisions there are a lot where I’m doing it for the first time. But for Joe it’s the second or third time, (so) for us it massively de-risks the execution side of the business.”

Mr Holthouse said the transition was not about competitive pressure, strategy or product.

“We’ve got the world’s best product and our competitors are nowhere in our rear view mirror in terms of market share,” he said.

Mr Powell, a former cricket player and now a Richmond Football Club board member, joins Catapult after more than a decade with Seek, where he most recently served as managing director of Seek Education. He has also had roles at Optus and PwC.

He said that having spent the past year or so in conversations with Catapult, he came away ­extremely impressed by its potential and was excited to expand Catapult’s market to sub-elite and consumer categories.

Catapult, which has 213 staff in 11 countries, offers a wearable athlete tracking platform that executive chairman Adir Shiffman said had become the most used solution globally.

“Following our acquisition of XOS and the decision to move into the sub-elite and consumer markets, Catapult now has more than 200 employees in operations across the globe,” Dr Shiffman said.

“Shaun recommended that a key requirement for this next phase of growth would be the ­appointment of an experienced, growth-oriented, professional CEO, and that his own best contribution could be made by focusing exclusively on strategy.

“The board and I agreed with him and we are delighted to ­appoint Joe Powell to the role of CEO. (He is ) a highly experienced and accomplished senior leader with the best tech pedigree ­imaginable.”

Mr Holthouse will move to a global strategy role within Catapult, and said he would remain ­totally committed to the company. “I’m committed to it financially obviously, given I’m the largest shareholder, but I’m ­committed emotionally as well,” he said.

“Obviously when some companies announce the transition of CEO, it’s because the strategy is changing or the company is in ­crisis. None of those things are the case here. It’s about building methodically towards success.”

Seek co-founder Paul Bassat said it was a fantastic appointment for Catapult.

“Throughout his time at Seek, it was clear Joe was an outstanding leader — he has great people skills, a keen grasp of strategy and a great ability to execute,” Mr Bassat said.