iRobot Corp. announced that Julie Zeiler, the company's chief financial officer, and Russ Campanello, the company's chief human resources officer, will retire, effective Dec. 2, 2024. Karian Wong, iRobot's senior vice president and principal accounting officer, will succeed Zeiler as chief financial officer, and Jules Connelly, the company's former senior director of human resources, will succeed Campanello as chief human resources officer. As part of a planned succession, Zeiler and Campanello are expected to stay on in advisory roles through March 28, 2025.
"Karian and Jules each have an in-depth understanding and a unique historical perspective of iRobot, and represent our new generation of leaders," said Gary Cohen, iRobot's chief executive officer. "I look forward to working with them as we execute our Elevate turnaround strategy to reclaim iRobot's position as the global innovation leader in consumer robots for the home and beyond."
"Both Julie and Russ have contributed a tremendous amount in their time with iRobot. They have been instrumental in our aggressive efforts to position the company for profitability in what is a dynamic environment. On behalf of our board of directors, along with our entire leadership team, I want to thank them for their hard work and wish them nothing but the best."
Wong has more than 25 years of auditing and accounting experience and has been with iRobot for over seven years. She joined iRobot in 2017 as VP of finance and chief accounting officer. She has served as SVP and principal accounting officer since 2021 and has led the company's investor relations efforts for the past two years. Prior to joining iRobot, Ms. Wong was VP and controller at Nuance Communications, a publicly held computer software technology corporation, where she worked for 11 years. She was previously a senior audit manager at Ernst & Young. Ms. Wong is a graduate of the University of Arizona.
Connelly joined iRobot in 2017, rising to senior director of human resources in 2023. Throughout her career, Ms. Connelly has distinguished herself as an effective change agent with deep experience in designing and implementing effective HR processes and practices, particularly with respect to company culture and employee engagement. Prior to joining iRobot, she was the vice president of people operations at NutraClick, a technology-driven health and wellness products company. Connelly has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Connecticut.