Josh Silverman

Entrepreneur and technology executive

Josh Silverman

Silverman in 2014

Born| 1969 (age 54-55)
Education|

* Brown University
* Stanford University

Occupation| Entrepreneur

Joshua Gordon Silverman (born 1969)[1] is an American entrepreneur and technology executive who is chief executive officer of Etsy. He is known for co-founding the invitation website Evite and being CEO of Skype (2008–10) and shopping.com (2006–08).

## Early life and education[edit]

Silverman earned a Bachelor of Arts in public policy from Brown University in 1991, after which he spent two years working for New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley.[2] In 1995 he enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; he earned his MBA from Stanford in 1997.

## Career[edit]

In November 1998, Silverman quit his job at ADAC Laboratories[3] to work full time on building what would become Evite.[2][4] Evite was acquired by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2001. In 2006, Silverman became CEO of Shopping.com, a comparison-shopping engine owned by eBay.[5] In February 2008, he was named CEO of Skype.[6]

Silverman joined the board of Etsy in November, 2016. After an activist investor took a stake in the company and called for it sale, Etsy's board ousted longtime CEO Chad Dickerson and installed Silverman as chief executive officer. [7][8]

## Personal life[edit]

Silverman met his wife in 1998; as of 2018, the couple has two children.

## References[edit]

1. ^ 1000 CEOs. D. K. Publishing. 2009-08-17. p. 183\. ISBN 978-0-7566-7057-3.
2. ^ a b Ellin, Abby (2009-09-26). "Learning in Business by Following the Heart". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
3. ^ Gimein, Mark (1999-09-22). "Cool rules". Salon. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
4. ^ Canabou, Christine (2000-04-30). "Josh Silverman". Fast Company. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
5. ^ "President of EBay's PayPal Quits, Triggering Anxiety". Los Angeles Times. 2006-07-07. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
6. ^ "EBay names Shopping.com's Silverman to lead Skype". The Mercury News. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
7. ^ Gelles, David (2017-11-25). "Inside the Revolution at Etsy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
8. ^ Safdar, Khadeeja (2017-05-02). "Etsy Replaces Its CEO After Swinging to a Loss". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-01-04.