The fuzzy pink ridesharing platform Lyft has hired Evan Cohen to head up its East Coast operations.
Cohen left his position as chief operations officer at Foursquare in June of 2014. He was one of a number of executives to exit the company over the past year and a half and did so shortly after Foursquare split its product asunder and launched the check-in app Swarm.
Cohen brings more than 20 years of operations experience to Lyft, according to a company blog post out today. He was the VP of strategy and operations for the social networking site Bebo (and then AOL after the acquisition) prior to his position at Foursquare.
The new head of East Coast operations joins Lyft at an “important time” according to the company. Lyft recently announced it had a projected $1 billion gross run rate and said it was growing by 20 percent month-over-month – including a reported “triple market share” growth in New York City.
The platform now operates in more than 190 cities in the U.S. with 20 operating teams and has partnered with international ridesharing services Didi Kuaidi in China and Ola and GrabTaxi in India. It also opened up an engineering hub in Seattle and a customer support center in Nashville.
“This increased local presence, with support from leaders like Evan, will allow us to continue to gain market share and grow quickly,” The Lyft post states.
Why did Cohen decide to jump back into the startup world after a year and a half absence?
“Lyft brings something playful and delightful to the experience of on demand ride sharing, which is why they’ve had such strong momentum. The market for consumer transportation services is colossal and incredibly dynamic, and I’m honored to be a part of it with Lyft,” Cohen said.