Provo-based virtual reality startup vSpatial, has named John Sallaway as its new CEO and chairman of the board. As a co-founder, Sallaway has been serving as the company’s chief operating officer since its inception in 2016. Sallaway replaces Richard Platt, the founder and CEO of vSpatial. Platt will continue in his role as the company’s president, with his focus dedicated to product development, cloud infrastructure, sales and marketing.
Sallaway, who will assume day-to-day leadership of the company effective immediately, expressed excitement about the company’s direction. “Technology continues to evolve how we access and use information,” he said. “Good inspiration starts with good information, so we appreciate that. What has not advanced as quickly are the tools we use to leverage that information into good meetings, good forecasts and good decisions. This is what vSpatial is about. Our application connects our users to their data and their coworkers like never before. This is about helping our users work quicker, smarter, and have a more delightful experience at the same time.”
Prior to joining vSpatial, Sallaway was the managing partner of a national law firm, managing a nationally distributed team of over 50 attorneys. He learned first-hand the complexities of managing remote workers and distributed teams in the information and analysis-heavy legal industry. “I know the challenges that remote workers and distributed teams face. It is not as simple as saying we are going to leave the traditional office and transition to a distributed team. Without the right tools and understanding of the complexities of relationships and work flows, remote teams fail. This is why I am so excited to bring the next generation of productivity and collaboration tools to our users. Whether you are working remotely on a business trip for a day or two or whether you are permanently placed on a distributed team, vSpatial is going to help you be better at your job and in a delightful way.”
Platt was the technical founder of Selsius Systems, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998. Under his engineering leadership at Cisco, the original Selsius products became the Cisco Call Manager and Cisco IP Phone lines which today are a multi-billion-dollar business for Cisco.