Zerista, the first provider of mobile and Web applications for events, appointed its current chief operating officer (COO) as president and CEO.
Overseeing the next phase of the company’s growth is Eric Olson, who will also join Zerista’s board of directors. Olson takes over for Peter Hoskins, who served as Zerista’s CEO since 2010. Hoskins will retain a role as an active board director.
“From the minute we started talking to Eric, we knew he shared the Zerista vision, so we recruited him hard,” said Hoskins. “Zerista’s past three years have seen record growth, product breakthroughs and the creation of an outstanding team of industry professionals. We knew Eric’s leadership would accelerate the value Zerista delivers to our clients well beyond what they’ve grown to expect from traditional event apps.”
A 10-year meetings and events industry veteran, Olson began his tenure with Zerista in December 2012 after six years with Active Network, where he led the company’s cloud-based event management solution RegOnline, providing event technology to more than 8,000 businesses and associations.
“Zerista has been one of the most innovative products in the industry for some time now, and one I watched very closely over the last few years,” said Olson. “It’s an honor to lead this talented group that is changing the game for mobile in events. While a lot of event apps out there are based on old-school conference programs, I think Zerista got it right at the start by focusing on data, social media and community. Now we’re in a unique position to power technology that actually transforms events into more targeted and measurable vehicles for engagement.”
Olson’s appointment comes on the heels of Zerista’s most robust product release to date. This product includes a personalized activity-feed mobile interface, gamification, sponsor marketing automation, and a unique lead generation and lead retrieval app for exhibitors.
