Ancestry and Findmypast yesterday each announced management changes at the top of their respective company.
Ancestry
After 12 years of leading the company, Ancestry Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan is stepping down and will transition to chairman of the company’s board of directors, effective October 1. In his time as CEO, Mr. Sullivan has built the company into the recognized world leader in family history, overseen its transformation into the world’s largest consumer genomics provider, and grown revenues to what is expected to be in excess of $1 billion for the full year 2017.
Howard Hochhauser, the company’s chief financial officer since 2009 and chief operating officer since 2012, will assume the role of interim CEO as the company conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
Findmypast
Findmypast has named Tamsin Todd as new chief executive officer. Ms. Tamsin has worked in the travel, retail and technology sectors, and brings a track record of leading successful growth businesses. She spent the early part of her career at Amazon and then Microsoft, where she led the introduction of ecommerce and search products into UK and Europe. This was followed by stints as head of ecommerce at Betfair, and managing director of TUI-owned Crystal Ski Holidays. She joins Findmypast from Addison Lee, where she was chief customer officer of Europe’s largest car service company. Ms. Tamsin lives in London with her family, and is digital trustee of the Imperial War Museums.
Ms. Tamsin takes over as Findmypast CEO from Jay Verkler who ran the company on an interim basis and who has since been appointed chairman of the board. Mr. Verkler, a leading Silicon Valley strategy and technology consultant and former CEO of FamilySearch, the world’s largest genealogical organisation, will continue to bring his family history and technology expertise to Findmypast in his new non-executive role.
