Allbirds stock takes flight after announcing new CEO and name change
Key takeaways
- The San Francisco company announced Wednesday it will be changing its name to Smartbird and naming a new chief executive to lead its pivot from an eco-friendly shoe company to an AI startup.
- The company named Nadia Carlsten as its new CEO, replacing Joe Vernachio who was named CEO in 2024.
- It’s the second name change since April for the company, which was once a fixture of Silicon Valley (It was previously named Newbird).
An Allbirds store in the So Ho neighborhood of New York, US, on Wednesday, May 4, 2023. Allbirds Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on May 9. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images) By Lily Wright Connect June 17, 2026 11:47 AM PT 3 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
The San Francisco company announced Wednesday it will be changing its name to Smartbird and naming a new chief executive to lead its pivot from an eco-friendly shoe company to an AI startup.
The company named Nadia Carlsten as its new CEO, replacing Joe Vernachio who was named CEO in 2024. Carlsten was previously the CEO of AI company DCAI, where she forged a partnership with chip maker giant Nvidia to launch an AI supercomputer.