Back in 2011, friends of Nest CEO Tony Fadell (shown in the image above on the right, with Nest co-founder Matt Rogers on the left and Google co-founder Larry Page in the middle) laughed at him when he informed them he left Apple to work on thermostats. Today, after spending the last six years toiling away at smart home innovation (and having the last laugh among his friends), Fadell has announced that he will be stepping down as CEO to transition into an advisory role within the Google-owning Alphabet (suggesting he may be hanging with Larry Page even more in the days and years to come). To make the move official, Fadell took to the Nest blog he has often frequented and shared the news.
Taking Fadell’s place as CEO will be former executive VP of Motorola Mobility, Marwan Fawaz, who, according to Nest, has “extensive technology and engineering knowledge,” as well as a background in connected home platforms. Additionally, the company says it’s already positioned itself with a two-year product roadmap to be sure the transition is not only smooth but that the company continues to head in the right direction.
“While there is never a perfect time to transition, we’ve grown Nest to much more than a thermostat company,” Fadell wrote on the Nest blog. “We’ve created a hardware + software + services ecosystem, which is still in the early growth stage and will continue to evolve to move further into the mainstream over the coming years. The future of Nest is equally as bright given the strong and experienced leadership team in place.”
For the better part of the last year, Nest has worked towards phasing Fadell out of the company’s CEO position and into his upcoming advisory role with Alphabet. Concerning his move to Alphabet, Fadell says that while he won’t be present during the “day to day at Nest,” his role with Google’s parent company allows him to “pursue new opportunities to create and disrupt other industries.”
What he means by other industries is certainly up for debate but as it stands, Alphabet presides over a host of emerging tech companies so Fadell’s options are essentially endless. At the end of his post, Fadell acknowledged everyone responsible for allowing Nest to be the brand that it is before thanking the company’s customers and officially sending himself off with a simple, “onward.”