John Foley, co-founder and former CEO of Peloton, is leaving the company

Peloton co-founder and former CEO John Foley has resigned as executive chairman of the board, marking the latest major change at the affiliate fitness company (through The Wall Street Journal).

It’s been quite turbulent for Peloton lately. Despite selling widely loved products and classes, the company has had to cut jobs and adjust prices this year (both declines and, months later, rises) after overloading to meet increased demand during the onset of the pandemic. . In its August fourth quarter 2022 earnings report, the company reported an operating loss of $1.2 billion, although current CEO Barry McCarthy positioned its profit as a sign of “significant progress.”

Foley, who served as Peloton’s CEO for nearly 10 years, retired from the position in February, but is now leaving the company entirely. “Now it’s time for me to start a new professional chapter,” Foley said in a press release:. “I’m passionate about building businesses and creating great teams, and I’m excited to do that again in a new space.” Karen Boone, the board’s lead independent director, will become the chairman of the board.

Foley’s resignation is not the only executive departure announced by Peloton on Monday. Hisao Kushi, the chief legal officer and another co-founder of Peloton, has resigned and will be replaced by Tammy Albarrán, Uber’s deputy general counsel. Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils is also leaving.

Current CEO Barry McCarthy thanked the executives leaving in a memo to staff: “Today’s changes are a reflection of personal decisions by leaders that paved the way for our future success, and we are grateful to them.” You can read McCarthy’s full memo below.

Team,

I would like to update you on various leadership changes at the company.

The changes include:

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman John Foley has decided to step down from Peloton’s board of directors and Karen Boone, our leading independent director, has been elected to the role of Chairman of the Board (press release will be sent to you in a separate email shared).

Chief Legal Officer Hisao Kushi, who co-founded the company, will be leaving and Tammy Albarrán will be our new CLO. Tammy joins us from Uber.

Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils will be leaving and we will not be taking up his role again. Dion Sanders will expand his portfolio and assume many of Kevin’s responsibilities, becoming our new Chief Emerging Business Officer.

Jen Cotter, Chief Content Officer, will oversee our apparel and accessories strategy and operations.

Dara Treseder, SVP Marketing, Communications and Membership, will report directly to me.

First let me say that there would be no Peloton without John Foley or Hisao Kushi (or co-founders Tom Cortese, Graham Stanton and Yony Feng). They established the mission and values ​​that guide us to this day. Through their hard work, they have given the world the connected fitness industry and created a platform that empowers us all to be the best version of ourselves.

We’ve all heard the stories of John’s relentless pursuit of this vision. Founders become founders because they see things the rest of us don’t and have the courage to go for it. Without John’s unwavering commitment to his dream, there would be no passionate and dedicated community of nearly 7 million Peloton members. I want to thank John for paving the way.

The same must be said of Hisao, who has led Peloton’s intellectual property and legal strategy from day one. After deciding to step back and start the next chapter, Hisao worked with me in the process of vetting CLO candidates and recruiting his successor. I want to thank him for everything he has done and for his help during this transition.

We will share today’s press release with you in a future email. Our external announcement commemorates two of our co-founders and their many contributions.

I would also like to thank Kevin Cornils, who joined Peloton in 2018 as MD, International and became Chief Commercial Officer in 2021. Kevin has worked tirelessly to grow Peloton into the international brand it is today, recently helping to innovate the company’s go-to. market strategy and operationalizing new initiatives such as sales through 3rd party retail and our Peloton Rental offering. Kevin has decided that the time has come to look for another opportunity that will allow him to travel less (he has lived on airplanes) and allow him to redeploy his energies to an early stage company looking to is to scale up.

Today’s changes are a reflection of personal decisions by leaders that paved the way for our future success, and we owe them our gratitude.

I am excited to be working with Karen, Dion and Tammy in their new or expanded roles – as well as each of you – as we enter the growth phase of our transformation.

I for you. You to me. You against each other. And all of us to our members.

-Barry