Top Hat Taps Eran Ben-Ari as New Chief Product Officer
Top Hat is expanding their reach with a brand new member of the executive team.
The Toronto-based cloud learning platform has announced that Eran Ben-Ari will join the company on May 15 as Top Hat’s new chief product officer. Ben-Ari will be responsible for overseeing product strategy, development and expansion, with the overarching goal of driving enhanced revenue opportunities.
Ben-Ari will report directly to Top Hat CEO Mike Silagadze. When Techvibes spoke with him in late 2017, Silagadze explained a bit how the platform would expand over the coming years.
“For other goals, mid to long term, the plan is to dominate publishing space and build out the marketplace,” said Silagadze. “We want everyone to use and collaborate on content within that space. We’ll expand internationally and do some work with analytics as well.”
As the new CPO, Ben-Ari will champion the expansion of Top Hat throughout the 750-plus leading universities it is currently used in, as well as the company’s Sales University and other new initiatives.
Ben-Ari is coming to Top Hat from Kik Interactive where he also served as the CPO. He championed the release of Kik’s cryptocurrency ICO that raised over $100 million, all outside of Canada. Prior to his time at Kik, Ben-Ari worked at Rounds Entertainment and Hola, focusing on how to grow the platforms to an international audience.
“Prior to joining the world of technology, I taught at a university and experienced firsthand the challenges of engaging students and providing them with superior learning experiences,” said Ben-Ari. “With its strong product portfolio, world-class investors, and strong executive team, Top Hat is uniquely positioned to help solve those challenges. And I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of that.”
Top Hat is a cloud-based higher education learning platform that allows post-secondary students to shed traditional learning habits and head online to reduce the costs involved with buying textbooks and other learning materials.
“In addition to bringing an abundance of startup and academic research experience to Top Hat, Eran has an impressive track record of driving product innovation and advancement,” said Silagadze about the new hiring. “With him at the helm of Top Hat’s product management and engineering, I’m confident we’ll fast track our ability to build on the exponential growth we’ve experienced while continuing to look for new ways to better serve our customers.”
