Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
 | This article may require copy editing for Majority of references are undated and have no access-date. (July 2024) |
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy | |
|---|---|
 Cassidy in 2023 | |
| Born | Sukhinder Singh 1970 (age 53–54) Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| Alma mater | University of Western Ontario, Richard Ivey School of Business |
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Board member of | Upstart[1] |
| Spouse | Simon Cassidy |
| Children | 3 |
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (born Sukhinder Singh in 1970) is a technology executive and entrepreneur. She is the CEO of Xero, a New Zealand-based accounting software company,[2] and former president of StubHub. She has worked at various technology and media companies, including Google, Amazon and News Corp, Yodlee (YODL), and Polyvore.[3] She was the founder of Joyus (often stylized as JOYUS), a video shopping platform, and the Boardlist.[4][5]
Early life and education
[edit]Singh Cassidy was born in 1970 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to parents of Indian Sikh descent. Her family moved to Ontario, Canada, when she was two years old. She grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario, in the Niagara Region.[6] Cassidy graduated from the University of Western Ontario and earned her honours degree in business administration from that university's Ivey School of Business in 1992.[7]
Singh Cassidy was raised in an entrepreneurial family. Both of her parents were doctors and ran a medical practice for thirty years.[8]
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]Singh Cassidy started her career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in New York. She moved to the bank's London office in 1994. She then worked as an analyst for Sky Broadcasting.[9]
In 1998, Singh Cassidy moved to Silicon Valley and joined e-commerce startup Junglee as head of business development. Junglee was acquired by Amazon in 1998.[10] Following the acquisition, Singh Cassidy joined Amazon, where she led merchant business development for the first generation of Amazon marketplace.[9]
Singh Cassidy co-founded financial services platform Yodlee in 1999 with five engineering co-founders and served as SVP of sales and business development from 1999 to 2003.[9] In 2014, Yodlee went public, trading under the ticker YODL.[11]
In 2003, Singh Cassidy joined Google as the first general manager for Google Local and Maps, and head of content acquisition for Books, Scholar, Shopping and Video. There she launched Google Local and Maps, with product manager Bret Taylor and a team of engineers. In 2004, she became head of Google's international operations in Asia Pacific (APAC) and Latin America (LATAM), becoming VP in 2005 and then president of those markets in 2008. Singh Cassidy is credited with building Google's presence across 103 countries in Asia Pacific and Latin America.[12]
In 2009, Singh Cassidy left Google to become CEO-in-residence at venture capital firm Accel Partners.[13] Singh Cassidy was named CEO of Polyvore in 2010.[14]
Joyus
[edit]In October 2010, Singh Cassidy had the idea for a new platform driving e-commerce via video.[15][16] She founded Joyus in January, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Joyus launched to the public in August 2011.[8] Singh Cassidy raised $7.9 million in seed funding from Accel Partners, Harrison Metal, Joel Hyatt, Venky Harinarayan & Anand Rajaraman.[17] In 2012, Joyus raised a second round of funding totaling $11.5 million from Interwest and Time Warner, as well as existing investors.[18]
Singh Cassidy served as CEO and then chairman until 2017.[4] JOYUS was acquired by StackCommerce in September 2017.[19]
#ChoosePossibility Project and theBoardlist
[edit]In May 2015, Singh Cassidy published an open letter, titled "Tech Women Choose Possibility", challenging the tech community to increase the rate of progress for women in the industry by leveraging its wealth of existing female talent.[20] The letter was co-signed by 59 female entrepreneurs and investors. Singh Cassidy based the letter on her own experiences as a tech entrepreneur and research she conducted on 230 female founders and CEOs of tech companies.[21]
Cassidy launched theBoardlist, stylized in all lowercase letters, the first initiative of the #ChoosePossibility Project, on July 15, 2015.[5] TheBoardlist is an online marketplace that connects CEOs who are looking for board candidates with women who are peer-endorsed for private and public tech company boards. When it launched, theBoardlist included the names of over 600 women who had been endorsed by 50 investors and CEOs in the tech industry, from companies including Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, Twitter, Lyft and Box.[22]
On October 20, 2015, theBoardlist announced that it had facilitated its first placement of a woman to the board of a private tech company.[23]
As of November 2017, theBoardlist had attracted over 1,400 executives to nominate over 2,100 women for board service, and influenced over 100 board placements.[24]
Singh Cassidy was president of StubHub from April 2018[25] until May 2020.[26]
Xero
[edit]On November 10, 2022, Singh Cassidy was named as CEO of Xero Ltd, a New Zealand-headquartered technology company and provider of cloud-based accounting tools for small and medium-sized businesses and accountants.[27] Starting with Xero on November 28, Singh Cassidy formally became CEO on 1 February 2023.[28]
In March 2023, Singh Cassidy announced the removal of 700-800 roles across Xero, representing approximately 15% of the employee base. [29]
Personal life
[edit]Singh Cassidy is married to Simon Cassidy, a fellow Canadian and former hedge-fund manager who runs an independent investment firm.[8] The couple have three children and live in the San Francisco Bay Area.[citation needed]
Board member and advisor
[edit]As of August 2024, Singh Cassidy serves as a public board director at Upstart.[30] She previously served on the boards of J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG),[31] StitchFix, TripAdvisor (TRIP),[32] Ericsson (ERIC),[33] and Urban Outfitters (URBN)[34] and was as an advisor to Twitter.[3]
Angel investing
[edit]Singh Cassidy is an angel investor whose investments include:
References
[edit]- ^ "United States Securities and Exchange Commission Schedule 14A". SEC. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Bennett, Tess (2023-09-07). "The secret to landing a job as CEO of an $18b company". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
- ^ a b "theBoardlist Team". theBoardlist. Archived from the original on 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
- ^ a b "Joyus Launches V-Commerce". Women's Wear Daily. 21 September 2011. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ a b KOKALITCHEVA, KIA (2015-07-15). "Joyus' CEO has a new plan to get more women onto startup boards". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
- ^ Segall, Eli (2010-03-21). "Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: CEO of Polyvore's 'appetite for change' creates Silicon Valley success". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2015-03-02.(subscription required)
- ^ Romano, Analisa (2022-11-22). "TheBoardlist founder Sukhinder Singh Cassidy becomes new CEO of Denver-based company Xero". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
- ^ a b c SELLERS, PATRICIA (2011-08-01). "Ex-Google exec Singh Cassidy on Joyus and facing her "inner entrepreneur"". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2015-02-20. Retrieved 2015-03-02.(subscription required)
- ^ a b c "The Rise of a Dealmaker". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- ^ "Amazon to Buy two Companies". CNET. Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
- ^ "Yodlee, a Hub for Financial Apps, Raises $75 Million in I.P.O." DealBook. New York Times. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ "Yet another Googler leaves: Singh Cassidy joins Accel Partners". VentureBeat. 8 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ "Accel Partners Adds Google Executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy as CEO-in-Residence". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-05.
- ^ "Former Google Exec Singh Cassidy Becomes CEO of Fashion Start-up Polyvore". All Things D. Dow Jones & Co. 2010-02-22. Archived from the original on 2015-03-31. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
- ^ "Ex-Google honcho Sukhinder Singh Cassidy sets up video shopping online network Joyus". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ "Making Shopping Social With Video: Joyus Founder Sukhinder Singh-Cassidy". Forbes. 2012-05-02. Archived from the original on 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ "Premium Video Commerce Site Joyus — Headed by Top Ex-Googler — Gets $7.9 Million in Funding". All Things D. 2011-08-01. Archived from the original on 2015-03-02. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ "Video Shopping Startup Joyus Raises $11.5 million in Second Round, Focuses on ROI of Online Retail". All Things D. 2013-05-05. Archived from the original on 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
- ^ Shieber, Jonathan. "StackCommerce buys Joyus to focus on video and expand into fashion, shopping and beauty". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
- ^ "Tech Women Choose Possibility". Re/Code. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
- ^ "#ChoosePossibility Project". Medium. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
- ^ "A Woman On Every Startup Board? Why Not, Says Ex-Google Exec". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2024-08-14. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
- ^ "Boardlist, The Tool For Getting Women On Tech Boards, Has Its First Win". TechCrunch. 20 October 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ "The Boss: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Is on a Mission to Get More Women on Company Boards". Motto. Time, Inc. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017.
- ^ "Sukhinder Singh Cassidy Named President of StubHub". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
- ^ "StubHub President stands down | Complete Music Update". completemusicupdate.com. 2020-05-29. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16.
- ^ "Xero announces CEO succession, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy appointed". Xero.com. 10 November 2022. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ "Xero announces CEO succession, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy appointed" (PDF). 10 November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ Cassidy, Sukhinder Singh (2023-03-08). "Reshaping Xero to enable disciplined growth and focus". Xero Blog. Archived from the original on 2024-05-25. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
- ^ Sriram, M. (Sep 3, 2021). "Interview: Silicon Valley investor busts myths about risk-taking". MoneyControl.com. Retrieved Aug 20, 2024.
- ^ Wang, Nancy. "Aim For Impact With Your Choices, Advises Founder Of TheBoardList Sukhinder Singh Cassidy". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
- ^ Eisen, Harriet; Taylor, Sara (2019-03-08). "15% of the 3,000 largest companies in the US still have no female board members". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
- ^ "Ericsson's Annual General Meeting 2018 - PR Newswire APAC". en.prnasia.com. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
- ^ MarketScreener (2022-04-01). "Urban Outfitters, Inc. Announces Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and Elizbeth Ann Lambert Not Standing for Re-Election to the Board - MarketScreener". uk.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
- ^ "The RealReal Raises $14 Million in Series B to Expand Its Lead in Reselling Authenticated Luxury Designer Goods". PR Newswire (Press release). Archived from the original on 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
- ^ "Charitable Water Filter Maker Soma Raises $3.7M Seed Round". TechCrunch. 16 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ "J.Hilburn Rapidly Building the Next Great Men's Retail Brand". Yahoo Finance. Yahoo. 15 August 2012. Archived from the original on 11 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.