Making the Next Move
Today, we made an important—and exciting—announcement about the future of Bumble Inc.’s leadership. This is a natural step in Bumble Inc.’s evolution, and a decision that is the result of a great deal of careful consideration and thoughtful planning. Effective January 2, 2024, I will step forward from running the day-to-day operations of the business to the role of Executive Chair. This will allow me to get back to my founder roots and bring immense passion and focus to this next chapter of growth as we look to further accelerate our momentum, double down on our mission and innovate for the future.
I am thrilled to announce that Lidiane Jones will join Bumble Inc. as our new Chief Executive Officer, also effective January 2, 2024. Lidiane is a remarkable woman and someone I admire. She is an extremely proven product and business leader and innovator across consumer and business technology brands. She is not only incredibly impressive from a leadership standpoint, but her character is equally inspiring – she is dynamic, kind, thoughtful, passionate, warm, curious and focused.
I’ve thought hard about what type of leader could ultimately step into the CEO role as my successor and help continue taking Bumble Inc. to the next level, and I am so pleased the Board and I have found Lidiane. We are confident she is the right person to lead Bumble Inc. With Lidiane as CEO and me as Executive Chair, Bumble Inc. is best positioned to continue innovating while driving growth across the business.
Lidiane has spent her entire career in technology. She is a computer programmer and intuitive product leader. Her 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, members and team. Before taking the helm as CEO at Slack, Lidiane was the EVP and GM for Salesforce Digital Experiences (including Marketing and Commerce Cloud). Prior to Salesforce, Lidiane led Sonos’ software product team and spent nearly 13 years at Microsoft as a leader in a variety of products. Lidiane is a fearless advocate for her teams and has always maintained a keen focus on delivering outstanding member outcomes and consistent, transformative results.
I feel like Lidiane is already part of our Bumble family. She is deeply passionate about our mission, the impact we can drive and about being a leader to our incredible global team. Lidiane is a mom, and on so many levels, she is personally drawn to our mission of creating a kinder, more equitable world—one where relationships are healthy and happy. She is an avid reader and a lifelong learner of everything tech, economics, leadership and policy making. A couple surprising and awesome facts: Lidiane is Brazilian, and she learned to speak English when she was 17 as she had decided she wanted to go to school in the U.S. She is bold and fearless but measured; for example, Lidiane loved hang gliding before having kids. She loves heights—and will lead our global team to even greater ones. We have a deep shared passion and complementary skill sets. Importantly, our long-term vision for what Bumble Inc. can achieve is aligned and that makes this an incredibly exciting time for us both.
I founded Bumble nearly a decade ago for Women to Make the First Move, to be equals in their relationships. To make the internet, and the world, a kinder place. Since 2014, each of you, have all been focused on this collective mission. You have scaled us around the world, built products to empower people and keep them safer. You have innovated and pushed past more “No’s” than we can count. Ultimately, it’s you all who made today possible. You have enabled countless success stories, ranging from love, babies, adventure, friendship, community, new business partners and everything in between. Our mission remains deeply purposeful and important to me. It continues to motivate me now more than ever before.
We have important work ahead of us. We are in an epidemic of loneliness, and the internet has become more dangerous and toxic than ever before. Women, globally, are still over 100 years away from true equality. The world needs Kind Connections more than ever. Setting our sights on the next decade and continuing to dedicate ourselves to passionately solving these problems by helping the planet find healthy relationships, makes now the perfect time to Make The Next Move.
Looking back on the decade of First Moves and down at this mountain we’ve climbed, it’s amazing to witness the momentum we’ve created across our business. We have so much to be proud of, and I know that we’re just getting started. Lidiane is going to play a crucial role in turbocharging those efforts alongside you all. I cannot wait to support her and you all as Executive Chair, and as your wildly dedicated Founder in this next chapter. I will spend the rest of the year as CEO and helping to onboard Lidiane and make the transition smooth and successful.
I want to thank each and every one of you for being the heart and soul of Bumble Inc. For all of your hard work and dedication, and relentless commitment to our members and our mission. You all have made my time as CEO so rewarding and memorable. The highlight of the last decade has been our team. You have such a special place in my heart. Being the CEO “my parents always wanted me to marry”, has been an honor that will never be lost on me. Through every evolution of growth, the team is what remains the center of it all. You inspire me. We are going to do amazing things in this next exciting chapter together.
We made over 1 billion First Moves, now it’s time to cheers to the Next Move! Please join me in welcoming Lidiane to the team!
Love,
WWH