- Instacart on Wednesday announced the replacement for CEO Fidji Simo, who helped bring the delivery company to a successful IPO in 2023. Simo will be succeeded by Chris Rogers, who previously served as a managing director for Apple Canada, where he helped bring iPhone adoption to market.
Earlier this month, OpenAI announced it had hired Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to be its first CEO of Applications, a role Sam Altman carved out for her, overseeing product offerings and business operations. Although it was expected Simo would remain at the delivery company for “a few months” while the board found her successor, Instacart announced Wednesday it had already found her replacement: Chris Rogers.
Simo had joined Instacart in January 2019 as a board member and became CEO seven months later, replacing Apoorva Mehta. Simo helmed the company through its September 2023 IPO, having helped to raise $660 million to bring the company’s valuation to nearly $10 billion. Its market cap today is about $12.3 billion and its stock price is up nearly 10% since the start of 2025.
Considering Instacart’s success, Simo’s departure came as a surprise to many—and she admitted as much in a memo to Instacart employees. Still, the OpenAI offer is one she couldn’t refuse.
In the memo, she said she has “a passion for AI and in particular the potential it has to cure diseases” and that “the ability to lead such an important part of our collective future was a hard opportunity to pass up.” Simo had joined OpenAI’s board last year.
“Fidji is exceptional,” Altman wrote in a May 8 X post. “We have worked together on OpenAI for the past year and I have observed her deep commitment to our mission. I cannot imagine a better new team member to help us scale the next 10x (or 100x, let’s see).”
OpenAI wasn’t expecting to announce Simo’s appointment as soon as it did, blaming a media leak. At the time, the company said she would join OpenAI “later this year,” but it’s unclear whether she’ll join sooner now that Instacart has already named her replacement.
OpenAI didn’t immediately answer a Fortune query about when Simo will join the company.
Who is replacing Fidji Simo?
On Wednesday, Instacart announced it had named Chris Rogers as CEO, effective Aug. 15, and Simo will remain chair of the board “to ensure a smooth transition,” according to the company.
Rogers joined Instacart in 2019 and currently serves as chief business officer, overseeing commercial operations like retailer relationships and expansions, ad sales, research and development, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, Instacart Business, and Instacart Health.
He hasn’t always been in the grocery business, but has a 20-year career in consumer goods, technology, retail, and media. Rogers was most recently a managing director of Apple Canada, where he built and executed a country-specific strategy that drove iPhone adoption in the market. He had spent nearly 11 years at Apple, holding several roles like head of consumer retail and head of carrier channels for Canada.
But Rogers actually started his career at consumer-goods giant Procter and Gamble, where he led relationships with Canada’s largest national grocery retailers. He was there until 2008. Rogers also sits on the board of consumer goods and retail analytics company Spins, and is a board member of the Ad Council.
Rogers “brings the kind of vision, operational excellence, and customer obsession that will help Instacart play an even bigger role in people’s lives,” Simo said in a statement.