Bumble Inc. Announces Leadership Succession Plan for Company’s Next Chapter of Growth
November 06 2023 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Exceptional Product and Business Leader Lidiane
Jones to be Appointed CEO, Effective January 2, 2024.
Visionary Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd to
Become Executive Chair.
Bumble Inc. (NASDAQ: BMBL) today announced a leadership
succession plan for the Company’s next chapter of growth. Following
a comprehensive search process, Lidiane Jones, who currently serves
as Chief Executive Officer at Slack, a Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)
company, will succeed Whitney Wolfe Herd as Chief Executive
Officer, effective January 2, 2024. Wolfe Herd will transition to
the Executive Chair role at that time.
Wolfe Herd founded Bumble in 2014 with the goal of creating an
empowering online dating space for women. Under Wolfe Herd’s
leadership, Bumble has become one of the world’s leading networking
apps, enabling members to connect with confidence whether dating,
networking or meeting friends online. Bumble Inc. has also become
known as a global brand that champions women’s safety online.
Jones has more than two decades of experience as a product and
business innovator across some of the world’s most prominent
consumer and business technology brands. She has led teams and
brought products to life across productivity, enterprise
scalability and machine learning, always with a keen focus on
reimagining and elevating the consumer experience. Her background,
passion and values make Jones perfectly suited to lead Bumble Inc.
forward and accelerate the Company’s vision to embrace AI
innovation across its portfolio of applications in pursuit of
facilitating human connection safely.
Wolfe Herd said, “It’s a monumental moment, one that has taken a
great deal of time, consideration and care, for me to pass the
baton to a leader and a woman I deeply respect. This move to
Executive Chair gives me the ability to step forward into a new and
exciting role, get back to my founder roots and bring immense
passion and focus to this next chapter of growth. As I reflect on
the past decade, I am moved by what our team has achieved and by
the passionate community we have created. I am also incredibly
optimistic about the future. I believe in Bumble Inc.’s significant
potential today more than ever before. I’ve thought hard about what
type of leader could ultimately step into the CEO role as a
successor and help continue taking Bumble to even greater heights,
and I am so pleased to have found Lidiane. Lidiane’s expertise and
track record in product and technology is exceptional and having
her leading the next chapter of Bumble Inc. is a major win for our
company, customers and team. Our shared passion, complementary
skill sets and long-term vision for what Bumble Inc. can achieve
makes this an exciting time for us both. I am confident that we are
going to be fantastic partners in Bumble Inc.’s most exciting
chapter to date, as we propel the Company’s brand, mission and
products, and scale Bumble Inc. to new heights.”
Ann Mather, chair of the board of directors, said, “Whitney and
the Board have been focused on a thoughtful and deliberate
succession plan for quite some time. We are pleased to have
identified a leader of Lidiane’s caliber with broad and
multidisciplinary expertise – ranging from product development, to
machine learning, to marketing to customer experience – as Bumble
Inc. continues to innovate and invest in its products and
technology. We are confident she will be an advocate for our
members and the entire Bumble Inc. team as the Company continues to
generate durable growth and tap into new markets and brand-specific
opportunities to bring people closer together.”
Mather continued, “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to
thank Whitney for her vision and nearly 10 years of leadership.
Whitney has been a powerful force in shaping the online dating
industry, and she has been relentless in her determination to
meaningfully expand Bumble Inc.’s offerings and global community.
We are excited to continue working with Whitney as Executive Chair
and look forward to all that she will bring to that role.”
Before taking the helm as CEO at Slack, Jones was the EVP and GM
for Salesforce Digital Experiences (including Marketing and
Commerce Cloud). Prior to Salesforce, Jones led Sonos’ software
product team and spent nearly 13 years at Microsoft as a leader in
a variety of products. Jones holds a BS in Computer Science from
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is a mom, personally
drawn to the mission of creating a more equitable world, an avid
reader and a lifelong learner of everything tech, economics,
leadership and policy making.
Jones said, “I have long admired Bumble’s mission and it is
truly a privilege to join Bumble Inc. as CEO and work alongside
Whitney and such an amazing global team, and I want to sincerely
thank Whitney and the Board for the confidence and trust they have
placed in me. I am also grateful to have the support of my
colleagues at Slack and Salesforce, and I remain tremendously
confident in what they will accomplish together. As a woman who has
spent her career in technology, it’s a gift to lean on my
experience to lead a company dedicated to women and encouraging
equality, integrity and kindness, all deeply personal and inspiring
to me. I look forward to bringing my expertise, passion and drive
to Bumble Inc. to foster long-term, sustainable growth and create
delightful experiences that will expand our global community well
into the future.”
Jones will remain at Slack until the end of the year.
About Bumble Inc.
Bumble Inc. is the parent company of Bumble, Bumble for Friends,
Badoo, Fruitz and Official. The Bumble platform enables people to
build healthy and equitable relationships, through Kind
Connections. Founded by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, Bumble was
one of the first dating apps built with women at the center and
connects people across dating (Bumble Date), friendship (Bumble For
Friends) and professional networking (Bumble Bizz). Badoo, which
was founded in 2006, is one of the pioneers of web and mobile
dating products. Fruitz, founded in 2017, encourages open and
honest communication of dating intentions through playful fruit
metaphors. Official is an app for couples that promotes open and
honest communication between partners and was founded in 2020.
For more information about Bumble, please visit www.bumble.com
and follow @Bumble on social platforms.
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