CHARLOTTE – Passport founder Bob Youakim will no longer be the startup’s CEO, and will transition into the role as the startup company’s chairman of the board of directors, the startup announced Thursday.
Current company president David Evans, who was hired and appointed in January, will assume the role of CEO as the company seeks to expand its growth.
“The transition to Passport’s Board Chair will allow me to focus on the strategic direction and next horizon of innovation,” said Youakim in a statement. “I’m excited to have David step in to support our mission, continue delivering on our clients’ needs, and help them get to the next level.”
The leadership transition will occur throughout the second quarter of the year, according to the company.
“The exceptional team at Passport is ready to take on the challenge of driving further development of our digital platform in support of their mobility goals,” said Evans in a statement.
Prior to joining Passport, Evans was the CFO and head of corporate development for Cardlytics, a marketing data analytics platform, and before that worked in investment banking with Wells Fargo Securities in the technology, payments, and software sectors.
The company, which has processed more than $2 billion in mobility payments in its ten-year history, provides an end-to-end system for managing mobile pay parking, parking enforcement, and digital permitting to cities and municipalities, reported a three-year growth rate of 457 percent in a recent press statement announcing the executive leadership changes.
“This is a great step forward for the company as it seeks to improve its management team across the board,” said Don Rainey, partner at Grotech Ventures, which co-led a $6 million Series A investment in Passport in 2013, in an interview with WRAL TechWire. “I am happy for Bob and his continued involvement, and look forward to the next steps for the company.”
In an additional change to the leadership of the company, Passport has named Keri Gohman, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, to the company Board of Directors after she served as an advisor to the company in the prior year. Bain Capital invested $43 million in a Series C in the company in 2017.
Charlotte-based Passport parks $43M financing from Bain Capital
The company also landed a $65 million Series D round in December 2019, with participation from three additional investors, Rho Capital Partners, HIG Growth Partners, and ThornTree Capital Partners, and according to Youakim, the money was planned to be invested to grow and expand the Passport mobility system, at the time predicting a future where almost everyone in the world would live in a city.
Charlotte mobility tech startup Passport raises $65M, plans transportation ‘ecosystem’
