Facebook exec Carolyn Everson to join Instacart as president

Less than a month after announcing a new CEO, Instacart is getting a new president, with both coming over from Facebook.

Instacart on Wednesday said Carolyn Everson will start at the company as president on Sept. 7, taking over from Nilam Ganenthiran, who will become strategic advisor to the CEO, a newly created position. Both will report directly to CEO Fidji Simo, a former Facebook executive who succeeded Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta as chief executive effective Aug. 2.

In her new role as Instacart’s president, Everson will direct the San Francisco-based online grocery delivery company’s retail, business development and advertising businesses, along with its people, policy and government affairs, legal, partnerships, pickup service and care teams. She joins Instacart after more than 10 years at social media giant Facebook, most recently as vice president of global marketing solutions.

“Instacart’s in a league of its own with a pioneering, sustainable business model that delivers more value and delight to customers, more growth and customer engagement to retailers and more sales and product discovery to brands. Working with Fidji again is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as Instacart redefines the connection consumers have to food during a pivotal moment of innovation within our industry,” Everson said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to join Fidji’s leadership team and combine my love for advertising and partnerships with my deep passion for global team building. We are in a period of rapid grocery e-commerce adoption, and Instacart is incredibly well-positioned to play an important part in people’s lives for many years to come.”

Related:With CEO change, Instacart readies for ‘next growth chapter’

Instacart noted that Everson (left) brings 30 years of experience in leading global consumer technology teams, with a focus on global partnerships, business development and advertising platforms. As vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, she oversaw relationships with top advertisers and agencies and led a team focused on global partnerships and agencies, as well as Facebook’s Creative Shop. During her tenure at Facebook, she played a key role building and growing the company into the world’s second-largest digital ad platform, according to Instacart.

Before that, Everson served as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s global advertising sales and trade marketing teams, a role in which she led the technology giant’s advertising business across Bing, MSN, Windows Live, Mobile, Gaming, Atlas and the Microsoft Media Network. She also spent nearly seven years at Viacom’s MTV Networks, serving as chief operating officer and executive vice president of U.S. ad sales. Her career also includes vice president posts at Primedia and Zagat Survey, business development manager at Walt Disney Imagineering and analyst at Accenture.

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“I’ve had the privilege of working with Carolyn for a decade and know just how lucky we are to have her leadership and talent at Instacart. Carolyn’s an industry legend, best known for cultivating strong, trusted relationships that drive strategic value for partners,” Simo commented.

“With more than 600 retail partners and thousands of advertisers helping power our marketplace, Carolyn’s unmatched experience and authenticity will be a key driving force for our business as our teams prepare for our next chapter of growth,” she added. “With Carolyn at the helm as president, I’m excited to reimagine the role Instacart plays in the future of food by unlocking more inspiration, personalization and accessibility for consumers around the world, while also driving even more growth and engagement for our partners and the broader grocery industry.”

Ganenthiran (left) has served as Instacart’s president since November 2019. He joined the company in December 2013 as head of business development and strategy and then became vice president of business development and strategy in 2015. He was promoted to senior vice president of business development in early 2016 before becoming chief business officer in March 2017.

Everson joins Instacart’s leadership team amid continued industry speculation about an impending initial public offering. In November, Reuters reported that Instacart enlisted investment bank Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO, which could be launched in 2021. Then in January, Instacart hired Goldman Sachs veteran Nick Giovanni, a specialist in IPOs and mergers/acquisitions, as chief financial officer. And this past May, Instacart signaled its plans to grow globally with the hiring of Facebook executive Nikila Srinivasan as vice president of product for international.

The company also continues to stock up on digital business talent. Additions this year include Asha Sharma (Facebook) as chief operating officer, Laura Jones (Uber, Google) as vice president of brand and marketing, David McIntosh (Tenor) as vice president of product for retailers, Max Eulenstein (Facebook) as vice president of product for Instacart App, and Daniel Danker (Uber Eats/Uber, Facebook, Microsoft) as vice president of product for shoppers and fulfillment.

North America’s largest third-party online grocery platform, Instacart partners with more than 600 national, regional and local retailers and delivers from nearly 55,000 stores — about 20,000 added in the past year — across more than 5,500 cities. Its delivery service reaches 85% of U.S. households and 70% of Canadian households.