LinkedIn Names New CEO
Palo Alto, CA — February 5, 2007 — LinkedIn, the world’s largest and most effective business network, today announced that Dan Nye has been appointed CEO. Nye succeeds the company’s entrepreneurial founder, Reid Hoffman, who remains as LinkedIn’s Chairman and President, Products. “Dan Nye’s depth of experience and leadership skills will allow us to accelerate our growth and take the company to the next level,” said Hoffman. “I am excited to work with Dan, both because he is an amazing executive and because we share the vision that LinkedIn will be essential for every professional in the world. Dan will build an organization that will keep up with our accelerating business.”
“The chance to join the LinkedIn team is truly exceptional,” said Nye. “LinkedIn is well on its way to changing the way business is conducted in the U.S. and abroad. I am thrilled to have an opportunity to play a leading role in such an innovative and impactful company.”
Dan Nye joins LinkedIn from Advent Software (Nasdaq: ADVS), the leading provider of software and services for the investment management industry. At Advent, Nye served as Executive Vice President and General Manager for the Investment Management Group, a business unit responsible for Advent’s core suite of products serving asset managers, banks and trusts, hedge funds, family offices and financial advisors. While at Advent, Nye was a member of the executive team that successfully completed a corporate turnaround.
Prior to joining Advent in 2002, Mr. Nye spent over six years at software maker Intuit, where he served in a number of roles including Vice President and General Manager of the Small Business Division, Vice President and General Manager of the International Division, and Director of Marketing for Small Business Products and Services. During his tenure at Intuit, revenue from small business customers grew from $40 million per year to more than $400 million per year. Mr. Nye began his career in brand management at Procter and Gamble. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Hamilton College.
“Dan Nye came out as the clear leader in an exhaustive selection process,” said Mark Kvamme, Partner at Sequoia Capital and investor LinkedIn. “Our search, which leveraged the world’s most sophisticated hiring and reference tool, LinkedIn, led us to Dan, whose talent and reputation are unparalleled.” “LinkedIn has been experiencing phenomenal growth in all areas,” said David Sze, Partner at Greylock Partners, also an investor in LinkedIn. “The addition of Dan Nye to lead the executive team will allow the company to scale for orders of magnitude more success.”
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn takes your personal business network online, giving you access to people, jobs and opportunities like never before. Built upon trusted connections and relationships, LinkedIn has established the world’s largest and most powerful business network. Currently, more than nine million professionals are on LinkedIn, representing all five hundred of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as a wide range of household names in technology, financial services, media, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, fashion, and numerous other industries. LinkedIn has more than four million members in North America, more than three million in Europe, and a million-plus in Asia. LinkedIn is backed by world-class investors including Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bessemer Venture Partners, and the European Founders Fund.