New gig for Lowe’s smart-home point man

From late 2011 to mid-2015, Kevin Meagher was in the vanguard of smart home development, leading the Iris effort at Lowe’s, where he was VP and general manager of the smart-home division.

Now he’s promoting smart homes from a different angle, and with a different employer.

Meagher joined Palo Alto, California-based ROC-Connect, a smart-home platform that says it’s entering the North American market during an exciting period of opportunity. Meagher will be senior VP business development for ROC-Connect.

In his new position, Meagher will be responsible for securing new customers and partnerships for ROC-Connect’s platform services. Additionally, he will target manufacturers, service providers and retailers to offer smart-home support and deployment of connected products.

Having developed and launched the first mass consumer proposition through Lowe’s and deployed services with other major service providers, Meagher is recognized as one of the global pioneers of the smart home, ROC-Connect said in a press release.

“In one of my previous roles, I led an early stage company to become a market leader in the smart home space and I am excited to have the opportunity to do it all again,” said Meagher. “I’m joining a very strong leadership team and look forward to utilizing my experience and ROC-Connect’s superior technology to fuel continued growth and innovation that will help take the company to new heights.”

Meagher’s appointment comes as connected home device sales are expected to drive over $61 billion in revue in 2015 alone, said ROC-Connect.

“This is an exciting time in the growth of the smart home, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome Kevin to our team,” said Marcus Scheiber, co-founder of ROC-Connect. “Kevin’s remarkable track record with Lowe's, along with his strategic, long-term approach to operations and innovation make him the ideal leader to spearhead our North American entrance and continued development plans.”