Blake Irving

Blake Irving is the American former Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of GoDaddy.^[1] Before coming to GoDaddy in 2013, Blake worked for Yahoo! and Microsoft where he helped develop NetMeeting, MSN Messenger, and Hotmail.

Blake Irving
Born	(1959-08-08) August 8, 1959 (age 64)
Education	MBA
Alma mater	Pepperdine University

Early life and education

Blake Irving was born on August 8, 1959, to James Scott Irving and Patricia Ann Irving in Ohio.^{[citation needed]} Irving's father was in the FBI and consequently moved the family around the country.^[2] Irving lived with his brother, Scott, and his sisters, Lisa and Lori.^{[citation needed]} Irving played the drums from the age of seven,^[3] and was an artist while attending the Newbury Park High School^[4] in Southern California.^[2] Irving is a graduate of San Diego State University and received an MBA degree from Pepperdine University.^[5] He has served as a professor at Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management,^[6] and has been named a distinguished alumnus.^[7]

Career

Xerox

Irving began working at Xerox in 1981,^[8] where he provided Greek fonts for electronic typesetting.^[9] He eventually became a manager at the company's Font Support Center.^[10] Irving worked at PARC during the development of WYSIWYG technology,^[11] Irving also worked at Oki Electric Company^[12] and Compaq computer.^[13]

Microsoft

Irving was a product manager for Microsoft's telecommunications business unit in 1994,^[14] and a group manager the Personal Systems Division in 1995.^[15] In 1996, he was the group manager for the Internet Platform and Tools Division,^[16] and he would later be named Corporate Vice President.^[17] As head of the Windows Live Platform, Irving managed a $1 billion global R&D budget and oversaw development teams in the US, India, China and Europe.^[18] Irving was also Corporate Vice President of MSN Communication Services^[19] and Merchant Platforms.^[20] Irving was also a Member of Platform Group of MessageCast Inc. and was involved in overseeing other Microsoft products including NetMeeting,^[21] Outlook Express,^[20] MSN Messenger,^[22] Hotmail,^[23] Xbox Live,^[24] and other Microsoft applications.^[25][26]

Yahoo!

Irving worked at Yahoo! Inc. from May 2010 to April 1, 2012.^[27] He was the Chief Product Officer,^[28][29][30] and its Executive Vice President.^[31] Irving left Yahoo! during Scott Thompson's CEO-ship.^[32][33][34] While at Yahoo!, Irving was in charge of Yahoo! Mail, and specific theme-based Yahoo! sites like news, sports, and finance.^[35]

GoDaddy

Irving became Chief Executive Officer of GoDaddy in January 2013.^{[36][37][38][39]} Under Irving, the company stopped airing sexually provocative commercials it had become known for, which had fed the company's reputation for sexism.^[40][41] Other changes by Irving including hiring Elissa Murphy as Chief Technical Officer.^[42] Irving said he would retire from the company at the end of 2017.^[43]

Autodesk

In March 2019, Autodesk appointed Blake Irving to Board of Directors effective March 22, 2019.^[44]

Other activities

Irving was an executive producer of Code: Debugging the Gender Gap, a 2015 documentary about the lack of women and people of color in computer science.^[45][46][47]

References

1. Hall, Kat (2 Aug 2019). "GoDaddy's daddy goes: Chief exec Scott Wagner steps down as hosting biz swings into the red". The Register. Retrieved 2 Aug 2019.
2. Bryant, Adam (2016-11-11). "Blake Irving of GoDaddy: At the Top, You Get to Set the Tone". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
3. "GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving Is More Than Just a 'Product Guy'". Fortune.
4. "How Did I Get Here? Blake Irving". Bloomberg.com – via www.bloomberg.com.
5. . president.calpoly.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
6. Yarow, Jay. "Yahoo Adds Blake Irving As Chief Product Officer". Forbes.
7. "MBA Degree Programs". bschool.pepperdine.edu.
8. . www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
9. Rainolds, John (2 November 1986). John Rainold's Oxford Lectures on Aristotle's Rhetoric. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 9780874132878 – via Google Books.
10. "GDDY Company Profile & Executives - GoDaddy Inc. Cl A - Wall Street Journal". quotes.wsj.com.
11. . High Tech History. Archived from the original on 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
12. "AT&T Presses Judge To Dismiss Throttling Case". Mediapost.com.
13. Harwell, Drew (1 April 2015). "The Internet's first gatekeepers are getting older, and the Web is leaving them behind". Washingtonpost.com.
14. Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (6 June 1994). "InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
15. Inc, IDG Network World (13 February 1995). "Network World". IDG Network World Inc – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
16. Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (18 March 1996). "InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. p. 12 – via Internet Archive. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help); |last= has generic name (help)
17. ndouglas. . Gawker. Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
18. "Global Availability of MSN Messenger and MSN Spaces Connects People Around the World". News Center. 7 April 2005. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
19. "The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: MSN Spaces, Microsoft's new, free service, courts bloggers". old.seattletimes.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
20. Critical Power Tools. SUNY Press. June 2007. ISBN 9780791481660 – via Google Books.
21. Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (4 November 1996). "InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
22. "Ex-Yahoo Product Boss Blake Irving Named Go Daddy CEO". Business Insider.
23. "It's not your father's GoDaddy, says new CEO". Seattle Times. 29 August 2015.
24. "The Seattle Times: Microsoft: Making online connections the Microsoft way". old.seattletimes.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
25. "Gates: We're entering 'live era' of software - CNET". CNET. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
26. "Knock, knock, knock . . ". IT Business. 20 June 2006. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
27. Iszatt-White, Marian; Saunders, Christopher (9 March 2017). Leadership. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198777113 – via Google Books.
28. "Onetime Microsoft exec Blake Irving joins Yahoo - CNET". CNET. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
29. "Yahoo Confirms Hiring of Former Microsoft Exec Blake Irving as Chief Product Officer". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
30. "Blake Irving Joins Yahoo! as Chief Product Officer | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2016-01-25.
31. Kramer, Staci D. (2011-09-06). "Here's The New Yahoo Leadership Structure (For Now)". gigaom.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
32. "Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson to Step Down [REPORT]". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
33. Stewart, James B. (2012-05-18). "The Undoing of Scott Thompson at Yahoo — Common Sense". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
34. Pepitone, Julianne. "Yahoo confirms CEO is out after resume scandal". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
35. "Blake Irving, Yahoo chief product officer, quits". SF Gate.
36. "Former Yahoo Exec Blake Irving Named CEO of Domain Giant Go Daddy". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
37. "Go Daddy hires former Microsoft and Yahoo exec Blake Irving as next CEO". Engadget. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
38. "Scottsdale's GoDaddy.com Reaffirms Company Vision And Announces New CEO: Blake Irving". AZ Tech Beat. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
39. Lunden, Ingrid (11 December 2012). "GoDaddy Doubles Down On Product With A New CEO: Ex-Yahoo Product Chief Blake Irving". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
40. "New Go Daddy CEO Blake Irving Says The Commercials Need To Change". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
41. "The Man Who Is Attempting To Repair GoDaddy's Sexist Reputation". Fast Company. 29 January 2015.
42. "Elissa Murphy, One of Yahoo's High-Profile Tech Execs, Heads to Go Daddy as CTO (Memo Time!)". AllThingsD. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
43. "Kaiser Permanente and GoDaddy CEOs Share How They're Promoting Diversity and Inclusion". Fortune.
44. Inc, Autodesk. "Autodesk Appoints Blake Irving to Board of Directors". Prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2020-02-06. {{cite press release}}: |last= has generic name (help)
45. "Why women won't code is topic of new documentary". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
46. "GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving Executive Producer for CODE Documentary". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
47. "GoDaddy's latest attempt to escape its sexist reputation". Fortune.com. 2015-03-23. Retrieved 2016-06-19.