I.D. Systems, Inc., has appointed industry veteran Chris Wolfe to the new position of chief product officer, effective August 4, 2016. Wolfe brings more than 20 years of experience in building, implementing, and selling paradigm-changing technology solutions.
Wolfe began his career at several leading transportation companies, including Roadway Express and Leaseway Transportation. He then served in various leadership, management, and product implementation roles at Qualcomm, a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. In his most recent role at Qualcomm, Wolfe served as president of the Wireless Business Solutions division, where he oversaw and helped successfully launch the company’s TrailerTRACS product, Qualcomm’s first major wireless product launch since the roll-out of its flagship product, OmniTRACS.
Within one year, Wolfe helped TrailerTRACS become the number one trailer-tracking system in the market, with several multi-million dollar contracts from some of the biggest users and purveyors of truckload, intermodal, and logistics services, including Schneider National and Swift Transportation. During his tenure as president, Qualcomm’s Wireless Business Solutions division experienced 63% increase in revenues from $270 million to $440 million.
Wolfe also worked as an independent strategy consultant for I.D. Systems, where he provided numerous product quality assessments, as well as contributions to key engineering projects. In his position as chief product officer, he will manage the product and engineering teams, and will report directly to the company’s COO Norm Ellis. Wolfe will be responsible for all product-related initiatives, including product development, assessment, and management. The company plans to reapportion certain costs from other departments to provide for Wolfe’s compensation.
“After a successful six months working with Chris to ensure we delivered the highest-quality products, we realized the important value he brought to our organization, and knew that he would make a great addition to our executive team,” said I.D. Systems Chairman and CEO Kenneth Ehrman. “Chris brings a deep understanding of the industry and what it takes to make a great product and grow revenue, and we will continue to look to him to ensure that we not only deliver the most scalable and high-quality solutions of today, but also for the future. With his appointment, we now have arguably the most experienced management team in the rapidly growing industrial Internet of Things space.”
Wolfe added: “Working with I.D. Systems over the last six months gave me an in-depth understanding of the amount of effort and work that goes into making a best-in-class product that meets all of the expectations of the company’s Fortune 100 customers. Now, as chief product officer, my priorities are to ensure our product line-up and roadmap remain best-in-class and ensure the successful delivery and implementation of our technology solutions to take the company to the next level. My extensive industry experience combined with I.D. Systems’ capabilities and market position, ideally positions us to capitalize on the global industrial Internet of Things revolution.”
Wolfe received degrees in business, computer technology and education from the University of Akron. In addition, he completed an executive management course with Stanford Executive Institute and successfully completed preliminary MBA finance and accounting courses at Cleveland State University.
