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.
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]
^Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (6 June 1994).
"InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. – via Google Books. {{
cite web}}: |last= has generic name (
help)
^Inc, IDG Network World (13 February 1995).
"Network World". IDG Network World Inc – via Google Books. {{
cite web}}: |last= has generic name (
help)
^Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (18 March 1996).
"InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. p.
12 – via Internet Archive. {{
cite magazine}}: |last= has generic name (
help); Cite magazine requires |magazine= (
help)
^Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (4 November 1996).
"InfoWorld". InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. – via Google Books. {{
cite web}}: |last= has generic name (
help)