SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lumos Labs, the maker of Lumosity, today announced that Steve Berkowitz has been named Chief Executive Officer of the company, effective as of November 2015. Berkowitz succeeds Kunal Sarkar, a co-founder of the company, who has been appointed chairman of the board of directors and will continue to work with the company’s leadership on strategy and long-term vision.
“It has been extremely rewarding to see Lumosity grow over the past 10 years from a concept to a full-fledged product offering with more than 70 million users across the globe. I have been working on a CEO succession plan for some time to ensure that Lumos Labs continues to evolve and grow in the right way,” said Sarkar. “After a lengthy search process, I believe that Steve is the right person for this role - he is a seasoned leader with a stellar track record, having previously led two public companies as CEO. I’m excited that he is on board to scale our company to the next level.”
“I have been a long-time fan of Lumosity and am excited to have been chosen to take on the role of CEO at Lumos Labs,” said Berkowitz. “Lumosity has been instrumental in defining the cognitive training space, both for consumers and researchers, and I look forward to leading the company through its next stage of growth.”
Berkowitz has over 30 years of senior management experience and was most recently the CEO of Move Inc. from 2009 to 2014, running both a SAAS business for real estate professionals and the consumer brand realtor.com. In September 2014, he presided over the $950 million acquisition of Move by News Corp.
Earlier in his career, Berkowitz served as the CEO of Ask Jeeves (Ask.com). He was credited with building the management team that led Ask.com to grow from $40 million to $1.85 billion in value, and in 2005, he led the sale of the business to IAC/InterActive Corporation for $1.85 billion.
Berkowitz has also served as the Senior Vice President of the Online Services Group for Microsoft, which included MSN.com, advertising sales, business development, and marketing for Live Platform, Search, MSN and Windows Live.
Berkowitz also served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of IDG Books, a company that went public in 1998, where he successfully expanded the “Dummies” series of books into a celebrated consumer brand covering everything from C++ to pet care from 1994 to 1999. Berkowitz began his career in the education and publishing space, and has held senior leadership positions at Intermap Systems, Henry Holt Publishing and MacMillan Publishing. Berkowitz graduated from State University of New York at Albany with a B.A. in Accounting.
About Lumos Labs
Lumos Labs is the maker of Lumosity, a leading brain training product with more than 70 million members, and paying subscribers from 180 countries. Founded in 2005 and launched in 2007, Lumosity offers more than 40 games that are designed to challenge core cognitive abilities. Lumosity’s games are based on neuroscience, with continuing independent third-party studies being conducted by researchers at academic institutions around the world. Lumosity is available on iPad, iPhone and Android, and in several additional languages including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. Lumos Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.lumosity.com.