RALEIGH – Kristine O’Shea was announced as the new CFO by Valencell on Tuesday. Previously she had been vice president of finance at Raleigh-based Red Hat which recently became part of IBM. Why make the move?

She explains why in this exclusive Q&A with WRAL TechWire:

Valencell

  • What excites you most about working for Valencell?

Valencell powers more biometric wearable products than any other technology in the market today (embedded in [more than] 40 biometric wearables) and is uniquely positioned in the market place between consumer wearables and the convergence with medical grade wearable health devices.

As we continue to add new customers each year, we have a significant growth opportunity in front of us and we have a robust product pipeline of next-gen biometrics including blood pressure measurement in wearable devices.

I am excited to be a part of the next phase of growth at Valencell.

  • Why did you decide to leave Red Hat? 

I was delighted to be offered an opportunity to become a part of Valencell, as it’s a great team with world class biometric sensor technology and some of the world’s experts in applying the tech in wearables of all kinds.

Secondly, for me personally it was a great opportunity to take the CFO role and lead the financial operations for Valencell.

I was with Red Hat for 11 years and now I’m looking forward to applying that experience at Valencell.

  • How do you expect work to be different at an emerging company vs. an established one?

I am excited to be part of a growth stage company such as Valencell, as I believe it offers a unique opportunity to be a part of a team that is transforming an industry.

Valencell continues to enable its customers by offering technology that will provide a wide range of user experiences and analytics on consumer, health and medical devices.  And as such, it’s exciting to be a part of the team that will push the envelope of what’s possible in biometrics.

And I hope to be able to bring some of my experiences from an established company to Valencell as we scale the company through the next phase of growth.