Bryan Arp, the co-founder of Netpulse, has stepped down as CEO of the San Francisco-based technology company.
John Ford, who founded Virtual Active and has been with Netpulse since it acquired the company in 2011, is now co-CEO of Netpulse along with Marc Baum, who has been with the company since 2013.
Arp left the company in late December. Ford told Club Industry that Arp, who started Netpulse in 2001, was ready for a transition in his life.
"It's a move that he's been thinking about for years," Ford said. "It's hard to imagine the toll that 14 years as a startup executive, building a platform from nothing, could take on all aspects of a person's life."
Ford also has the title of head of product at Netpulse; Baum also is the COO. Kelly Sweeney, who came over to Netpulse after it acquired Club Apps, remains as vice president of sales. Cinzia Bianchi also remains as vice president of marketing.
"Netpulse is incredibly grateful to Bryan for over a decade of work building out our platform," Ford said. "We're honored that Bryan is comfortable leaving his creation in our hands and we're focused on continuing to connect the fitness industry."
Prior to the acquisition of Club Apps last October, Netpulse secured $18.6 million worth of new funding, led by Nokia Growth Partners, with participation from August Capital, Javelin Venture Partners, DFJ Frontier and Docomo Capital. As a result of the funding, John Gardner from Nokia Growth Partners joined the Netpulse board.
"Bryan's final act was his most successful," Ford said. "In the last four months, Netpulse has closed on $18.6 million in funding, acquired Club Apps to become the industry's largest mobile provider and signed a head-spinning number of major account platform deals with some of the biggest brands in fitness, many of which are still yet to be revealed."