Blake Irving
American business executive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blake Irving is the American former Chief Executive Officer and Board Director of GoDaddy.[1] Before coming to GoDaddy in 2013, Blake Irving worked for Yahoo! and Microsoft where he helped develop NetMeeting, MSN Messenger, and Hotmail.
Blake Irving | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 8, 1959 Ohio, U.S. |
| 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]