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Zwift has appointed YuChiang Cheng as chief product officer.
Cheng will lead product design and UX, engineering, game design and art, product management, R&D, content programming, liveops, QA and community support.
Prior to Zwift, Cheng built cross-functional teams to create products for name brands such as Topgolf, Virgin Games, World Poker Tour, Monopoly, Sky, USGA, PGA of America, and MGM-Mirage. Cheng co-founded the World Golf Tour, a virtual golf simulation game which grew to over 28 million players.
“I’m thrilled to welcome YuChiang Cheng to Zwift,” said Zwift CEO and co-founder Eric Min. “This is a critically important hire for Zwift as we continue to invest in the very best people to develop our product experience and build out our teams.
“YuChiang brings considerable experience from a highly impressive career spanning companies of all sizes. I have no doubt that he will have a huge impact on levelling up the business as we move into hardware and continue to invest heavily into the core product experience, making Zwift more accessible to use and more personalized by design.”
Cheng added: “I’m honoured to have the opportunity to steward the future of such an innovative product and work with a passionate world-class team at Zwift. This is a rare opportunity to be able to join a business which is wholeheartedly committed to investing in its product, people and consumer experience.
“Eric Min and the board have committed substantial resources to build the best team, polish the product and drive new experience innovations for existing Zwifters. We are also committed to make Zwift a more accessible platform and fulfil our mission to help get more people, more active, more often.”
The news comes shortly after Zwift confirmed the appointment of Mark Cote as senior director, content programming. Cote joins Zwifts following a 13-year career at Specialized where he worked across physical and digital product development, brand, and marketing.
At Specialized, Cote held roles including leader of integrated technologies, leader of global marketing and innovation, and most recently active category leader.
Cote will report into Cheng, working to define and implement the strategic vision for in-game training and event experiences at Zwift. Cote will be working with the product, marketing, engineering, commercial and customer support teams.
“As a long-time Zwifter and huge fan of the brand, I’m thrilled to be joining Zwift”, said Cote. “My team will be working super closely with the Zwift community to bring enticing experiences that are even more engaging and accessible for all Zwifters.”
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