The BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) share price has started the week deep in the red.
In morning trade, the artificial intelligence technology company's shares are down 9% to 55 cents.
Why is the BrainChip share price sinking?
The BrainChip share price has come under pressure on Monday after announcing the appointment of its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
According to the release, the company has appointed Sean Hehir as its new CEO, with effect from 29 November 2021.
He will be replacing former CEO Louis DiNardo who left the company suddenly in March after leading the company for four and a half years.
The release advises that Mr Hehir is a proven technology executive with significant experience in driving revenue growth for technology organisations. This includes sales-based executive roles with Compaq, Fusion-io, and HP.
He will be tasked with guiding the company towards full commercialisation of the Akida neuromorphic computing platforms out of the Aliso Viejo office in California.
Why the poor reaction?
Judging by the BrainChip share price performance today, it appears that investors were hoping for a more experienced CEO or one with a background in artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, BrainChip's Founder and Interim CEO Peter van der Made was pleased with the appointment.
He said: "As outgoing (interim) CEO, I welcome Sean to the company and am happy to hand over the reins of a world-class company that is in an excellent position to commercialize our unique product that is years ahead of the competition. We have every confidence that Sean is the right executive to guide BrainChip into the future, to make sound decisions about the business opportunities before us and ignite industry enthusiasm for the new AI capabilities that are made possible by Akida."
"After more than a decade of R&D and design, he will lead the shift into commercialization and bringing new technologies to life, which has long been our vision," he added.
The BrainChip share price is up almost 30% in 2021.
