Ember Taps Former Dyson Exec to Lead Consumer Division

Ember Technologies announced today a series of shakeups to its C-Suite. Founder Clay Alexander will be moving to group CEO, effective February 16. The smart mug company is bringing on former Dyson exec Jim Rowan as consumer CEO to take his place.

In his new role, Rowan will be responsible for overseeing marketing, sales, finance, and operations, while also joining Ember’s Board of Directors. Alexander will continue to oversee strategic business decisions and product development for its consumer products, while also taking the reins on the newly created role as CEO of Ember’s healthcare division.

"It's an incredible privilege to welcome a seasoned chief executive such as Jim to Ember," Alexander said. "His deep category knowledge in scaling premium consumer electronic brands and thoughtful leadership will be an invaluable resource, and complement our leadership team as we grow our consumer division."

Rowan was CEO of Dyson from 2017 to 2020 and worked as COO for the home-appliance tech company for five years as well. At Dyson, Rowan expanded the company’s product categories into beauty care and in-home air purification. He also helped launch Dyson’s retail division, opening hundreds of Dyson stores worldwide and expanding into China and other Asian markets. Before that, he worked as COO of Research in Motion at BlackBerry.

His arrival to Ember signals that the company is looking to expand into bigger projects outside of its smart, temperature-controlled mugs.

"When I founded Ember, I knew there were endless applications for our temperature control technology and with Jim joining our team, we'll be able to focus on our emerging healthcare vertical and use our technology to help improve and even save lives,” Alexander said.

Founded in Los Angeles in 2012, Ember raised a $20M Series D round in 2019 and has raised nearly $50M to date.