Former Yahoo Exec Takes the Reins At Gimbal

Gimbal, the location-based technology company that makes, among other things, beacons, said on Monday (July 27) that Jeff Russakow has been named president and chief executive officer of the company.

Russakow will also serve as a member of Gimbal’s board of directors, the company said.

The newly appointed Russakow succeeds Rocco Fabiano in the chief role, as the latter executive took Gimbal through its spinoff from Qualcomm last year. Fabiano will stay on as Gimbal’s chairman of the board.

Prior to joining Gimbal, Russakow held senior roles at tech firms including SAP, Adobe and Symantec. He had also been with Yahoo as that company’s executive vice president and chief customer officer. Most recently the new Gimbal CEO had been the chief executive officer of Findly and also executive chairman of Symphony Advanced Media, a multiscreen analytics company.

In the Monday statement announcing his appointment to Gimbal’s helm, Russakow said that “Gimbal brings to the market truly enterprise-grade solutions and a compelling business vision at a time when the revolutionary advances we have seen in mobile, digital media and personalized customer experiences are finally reconnecting to the physical world in which we all actually live.”

Russakow went on to state that “having done early research in this space nearly 25 years and many technologies ago, I have closely followed Gimbal’s ascension as the undisputed market leader in proximity and mobile engagement.”

Qualcomm, the chipset giant, spun off Gimbal in May of last year, a few months after the company started selling its beacon technology. The spinoff was conducted through a group of third-party investors, which spanned strategic and venture capital entities. Investors who hold a controlling interest in the unit include i-Hatch LBS Fund, which in turn includes Zebra Technologies and AEG, among other companies.



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