Beijing-based bike sharing company ofo has hired Michelle Chen (pictured), former head of product at Uber China, as chief project officer to handle the company’s product design and data research.
She will report directly to the company’s founder and CEO, Dai Wei.
Chen joined Uber Technologies Inc. in 2015, and was responsible for the U.S. ride share giant’s products in China. Prior to Uber, she co-founded an online course search engine RedHoop in 2013, and was a senior product manager at Quotient Technology Inc., responsible for the company’s product strategies.
Chen has an M.B.A degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
As Chinese bike rental companies intensify their efforts to out-compete each other on financing, expansion and execution, they are fighting a quieter war on talent recruitment as well. Two weeks, ofo’s biggest rival Mobike hired Kingston Chang, former Tesla Motors Inc.’s general manager in China as its chief marketing officer, responsible for marketing activities at Mobike.
Last November, Zhang Yanqi, former regional general manager of North & West China at Uber, joined ofo as chief operating officer to expand the start-up’s business in new cities.
