BrightDrop Appoints Four New Executives

BrightDrop recently named four new executives to its leadership team, appointing Anthony Armenta as chief technology officer, Rachad Youssef as chief product officer, Shaluinn Fullove as chief people officer, and Steve Hornyak as chief revenue officer.

Armenta, Youssef, Fullove, and Hornyak bring experience in advanced autonomous technology, software, and robotics, and will be responsible for leading the company’s product and technology development, recruitment, sales, and marketing strategies. Armenta, Youssef and Fullove will be based in BrightDrop’s San Francisco Bay Area offices, and Hornyak in Atlanta.

“We’re thrilled to have Anthony, Rachad, Shaluinn and Steve join our growing, visionary team,” said Travis Katz, BrightDrop president and CEO. “Their robust backgrounds – spanning robotics, autonomy and machine learning – will enable us to accelerate our vision of delivering better cities while helping decarbonize the last mile of delivery.”

As BrightDrop’s chief technology officer, Armenta will lead the company’s technological vision, innovation, and strategy. Most recently, Armenta was vice president, Software Engineering for Serve Robotics at Postmates/Uber. In the role, he led robotics, autonomy, fleetware, embedded, and infrastructure teams building Postmates' robotic sidewalk delivery platform. Prior to Postmates, Armenta has worked at the forefront of some of the most important trends in technology, including the first smartphones and tablets at Palm and General Magic; the first desktop virtualization and cloud client solutions at Dell and Wyse; and the first high-volume consumer robotics at Anki.

As chief product officer, Youssef will lead the design, development, and management of BrightDrop’s ecosystem of all-electric products, software, and services for the commercial delivery and logistics sector. He brings nearly 25 years of product development experience in the technology industry, including most recently as vice president of Software Product Management for NIO, where he was responsible for the Autonomous Vehicle Roadmap, as well as reinventing the in-car experience. Prior to NIO, Youssef was vice president of Product Management at Zoox Inc., developing fully autonomous vehicles and the supporting ecosystem required to bring the technology to market at scale. Youssef led Jawbone’s audio portfolio as the director of Product Management. Before that, his work at Microsoft focused on an array of technologies, including the launch of speed recognition in the Kinect sensor. Youssef has held various roles at companies, including Tellme Networks Inc., Verity Inc., and Oracle Corporation.

Fullove will lead BrightDrop’s strategy to grow a diverse team of talented engineers and professionals. She brings nearly two decades of experience in the technology industry, holding various roles at both Lyft and Google. Most recently, Fullove was the global head of people for Autonomous Technology and Rideshare Platforms at Lyft. Prior to that, she spent 17 years at Google, where she was a founding team member of the Book Search and AdSense businesses. She also held leadership roles in Google’s acquisitions of Nest and YouTube.

Hornyak joins BrightDrop from Fabric, where he was the chief commercial officer. Hornyak helped Fabric clients improve their logistics with automated micro-fulfillment centers. Hornyak has held various executive and senior management roles with Symphony Retail, Trax Retail, Brickstream/Nomi (now Teledyne FLIR), Clarus, SQL Financials, and PwC. At BrightDrop, Hornyak will develop the company’s sales and marketing strategy, partnering with customers to grow a new delivery ecosystem.

“Our roster of highly skilled talent, with the addition of Anthony, Rachad, Shaluinn and Steve, is a nod to the magnitude of opportunities when tech and automotive talent unite around one common goal of creating a more sustainable future,” Katz said.