CEO Trio: Brighte appoints ex-CEOs Kirstin Hunter & Uzair Moosa

Together with founder and CEO, Katherine McConnell, Brighte boasts a trio of CEOs to lead the company through its biggest growth phase.

Kirstin Hunter joins from Future Super — Australia’s first fossil-free superannuation fund — where she was co-founder and CEO. While at the company Kirstin spearheaded ‘Not Business As Usual’ campaign: an alliance of companies publicly allowing their employees protest for the #GlobalClimateStrike on September 20, 2019. Prior to Future Super she was a management consultant at Bain & Company.

Before starting at Brighte, Uzair Moosa was CEO of Hey You, one of Australia’s largest coffee and food order ahead apps. In the last year he introduced a Covid check-in product and virtual coffee donations for customers who couldn’t go in to buy a coffee, but still wanted to help their local cafe through the pandemic.

Uzair joined Hey You from Saudi Arabia where he was General Manager of Careem. Careem is the Middle East’s first unicorn and biggest ride-sharing app in the region — it was acquired by Uber in 2020 for $US 3.1 billion.

Kirstin and Uzair join at a pivotal moment in Brighte’s journey, with the company doubling in size over the last 12 months and on track to be a workforce of 250 employees by year end.

McConnell says starting your own company is a baptism of fire and she’s glad to have Kirstin and Uzair by her side during this intense period of growth.

“I often say ‘a dream is just a dream without a team’ and Kirstin has brought the firepower we need to scale and support our People & Culture efforts. In her short time at Brighte, she’s overhauled our paid parental leave policy and led our team through onboarding remotely, with many starting a new job in lockdown.

“Uzair’s strengths lie in his laser focus of his customers. Together with his dedication to help people adopt a sustainable way of life, his experience with leading consumer brands is already proving invaluable to Brighte,” says McConnell.

Speaking of her appointment, Kirstin says she’s delighted to join a female-founded business where diversity is an essential ingredient to Brighte’s success.

“Since the company was founded, we’ve been deliberate in creating teams where people come from all walks of life and all stages of their career — our youngest employee is 21 while our oldest is 58. Diversity in culture, age and experience helps us reflect and connect with our customers.”

In his new position as COO, Uzair is looking forward to making a social impact for generations to come.

“Climate change is real and by joining Brighte, I’ll be working day in and day out to help our homes become more sustainable to reduce our emissions and their effects.”