eBay Needs New Direction From Board and Leaders

eCommerce
Written By Rick Watson

eBay announced upcoming Board changes that will fall into place at the end of June, assuming shareholder approval. For investors it's an interesting time. It's pretty clear eBay needs some new dynamics in both the Board and Leadership.

eBay will have a new chairman of the Board, Paul Pressler. Pressler is an independent director who was nominated during Devin Wenig's time in 2015, directly following the PayPal split. Pressler was CEO Gap and former President of Disney Stores/Disneyland.

Two long-time Board members depart:

Thomas Tierney, and Fred Anderson. Both were nominated in 2003 during Meg Whitman's time (how far back do you have to go?). Tierney is the current Chairman of the Board and took over from none other than Howard Schultz of Starbucks’ former eBay Board role. Fred Anderson was chair of the eBay audit committee, who was forced to resign from Apple's board (he was CFO after Jobs came back) for stock option irregularities earlier in his career.

I still think the most interesting changes to come are if Jamie shakes up his management team, including Chief Product and Chief Technology officer, who are both relatively new in their roles for the past year - either promoted or appointed by Devin Wenig. Interesting times.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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