Google Commerce Exec Jumps To Jawbone

Wearables product maker Jawbone is trying on a new company president for size — one who was previously a nice fit for Google.

The company announced Monday (May 11) that it has appointed Sameer Samat, current Vice President of Product Management at Google, as its President, effective later this month.

As noted in a blog post on the Jawbone site, Samat’s tenure at Google — which began in 2008 — saw him shepherding a number of the company’s products, including Google Shopping, Google Express, Trusted Stores, Merchant Center and Channel Intelligence. In his new role at Jawbone, Samat will report directly to Jawbone Founder and CEO Hosain Rahman.

“I believe passionately in Jawbone’s mission to apply beautiful design and advanced engineering solutions to help change people’s lives for the better,” said Samat in a statement. “I’ve long been committed to the promise of technology to help people take control of their lives, and I’m excited to be joining Jawbone at this time as the need for solutions that help people make change is more critical than ever. Health is the first stage, but the wider potential for wearables goes far beyond that. Jawbone is in a great position to lead this charge and I can’t wait to help further expand the offering around the world.”

Added Rahman, “I’ve spent a lot of time with Sameer over the last few months and I’m ecstatic to partner with him as we define the future of wearables together. He is a world-class executive with a great track record in building amazing products and services that people love.”

The Jawbone blog post notes that the appointment of Samat is an important hire at a pivotal time, as the company has recently closed its latest round of funding (which Re/code reports totaled $300 million, bringing Jawbone’s valuation to $3 billion) and launched a new range of products.

Notable among the latter is the previously unnamed (now called the Up4, offers Re/code) fitness tracker, a collaborative offering from Jawbone and American Express that includes a feature allowing contactless payments.