The Indian American executive was hired by the music streaming giant as CFO in February.
The music streaming service company Pandora has named its Indian American CFO Naveen Chopra as the company’s interim CEO after co-founder Tim Westergren decided to step down.
“Over the past several weeks, the board has taken a number of steps to refocus and reinforce Pandora,” Pandora board member Roger Faxon said in a press release on Tuesday. “As listeners continue to move from traditional terrestrial radio to more dynamic and flexible offerings, it is the board’s belief that this transition continues to present a massive opportunity, and that Pandora is in an ideal position to capture an increasing share of the audience.”
The company, which will begin the search for a new CEO immediately, also appointed Jason Hirschhorn to its board, filling a recently vacated seat.
Westergen, a former musician, was one of the founders of the company, which was initially known as Savage Beast Technologies, in 2000. He served as CEO of Savage Beast from 2002 to 2004.
In 2005, the company was renamed Pandora Media, and within years it became the most popular internet radio service. Westergen took over the CEO post of Pandora last year. His exit came after Sirius XM’s announced its plans on June 9.
Chopra, who was hired at Pandora in February, said that Sirius sees a big advertising opportunity in Pandora that has not been developed to its full potential.
“Our strategy is to nail the passive listening experience and make sure we have on-demand as a option but not lose sight of our strength,” The Street quoted Chopra as saying. “The winners and losers in the music streaming space will be really be determined by who can build the most compelling consumer product.”
Chopra is also a member of the board of Vonage. Previously, he was the interim CEO and CFO of TiVo
Pandora is the most powerful music discovery platform, a place where artists find and listeners find music they love. The service plays musical selections of a certain genre based on the user’s artist selection. It is available only in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.