Nautilus, Vancouver, Washington, has appointed James “Jim” Barr IV as CEO, according to an announcement from the company. Barr will assume the role on July 29 and will join the board of directors.
Nautilus includes equipment from brands Bowflex, Modern Movement, Nautilus, Octane Fitness, Schwinn and Universal.
The role of CEO came open after Bruce Cazenave resigned in March. Since then, M. Carl Johnson III, chairman of the board of directors of Nautilus Inc., had been serving as interim CEO until a replacement could be found.
“As Nautilus, Inc. continues to transform its business leveraging technology to provide our customers a personalized fitness experience, we are excited to have Jim Barr, with his extensive technology and digital expertise, to drive Nautilus into its next era,” Johnson said in a media release about the appointment. “Jim’s proven capabilities of driving growth through people leadership, consumer-driven marketing, innovation and technology, and digital prowess will greatly enhance Nautilus’ plans to extend its global fitness position.”
Barr most recently served as group president at Ritchie Bros., a used industrial equipment company with transaction value of $5.3 billion, according to Nautilus. During his time there, he led a digital transformation that expanded the 60-year-old company’s offerings from its core onsite auctions to an array of onsite and online formats.
Prior to Ritchie Bros., Barr was executive vice president and chief digital officer of OfficeMax, which had revenue of more than $7 billion as a global retailer/wholesaler of office equipment, supplies and business services. There, he transformed the company’s online and omnichannel experiences and turned around its online business from declining revenue to double-digit growth every quarter before the company ultimately merged with Office Depot.
In 2008, Barr was named the first president of Sears Holdings’ newly formed Online Business Unit, where he developed and drove an omnichannel and online strategy that expanded the product assortment and produced double-digit online growth and increases in customer satisfaction, according to Nautilus.
He also was an executive for 12 years in Microsoft’s online businesses as general manager, MSN Business Development, where he partnered to bring revenue, content and capabilities to the MSN network before heading the company’s B2C online businesses as general manager, Commerce Services, where his engineering and business teams developed and ran online shopping, classified advertising and auction businesses, as well as platforms and technologies, which ultimately powered the ecommerce experience in Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
“This is a time of tremendous opportunity for Nautilus, as technology evolves fitness through connected devices and software experiences, artificial intelligence, greater customization and depth of customer interactions, and other capabilities that vastly improve the way we live healthy lifestyles,” Barr said. “With leading brands, high-quality global cardio and strength products, passionate employees, and world-class strategic partners, Nautilus has strong potential to deepen relationships with customers and build on its strong heritage as a leader in fitness.”