About Josh Silverman
Josh Silverman is an American entrepreneur and technology executive, best known as the Chief Executive Officer of Etsy, a role he has held since May 2017. He is scheduled to transition to Executive Chairman in January 2026. Silverman has a long history of leading major consumer technology companies, having previously served as CEO of Skype, CEO of Shopping.com (an eBay company), and co-founder and CEO of Evite. He is also committed to civic engagement, serving as Chairman of Code Nation.
Career
CEO
CEO
Member Board Of Directors
Member Board Of Directors
Board Member
Board Member
Member Board Of Directors
Member Board Of Directors
Senior Operating Advisor
Senior Operating Advisor
Executive in Residence
Executive in Residence
President, Consumer Products and Services
Executive Officer of American Express, reporting to CEO Ken Chenault, with overall responsibility for the flagship US consumer cards and global consumer travel businesses (>$10B in revenue).
Refreshed the product line, including the launch of iconic products such as the Centurion Lounge network, and cornerstone new credit cards such as Amex EveryDay. Expanded the relevance of the brand to a broader audience. Significantly accelerated the lending business, while maintaining best-in-class write-off rates. And transformed the product and marketing capabilities to become world-class at leveraging big data, digital marketing, mobile and personalization; while helping lead the transformation of software development infrastructure and capabilities. During his four-year tenure, both revenue and profit growth far outpaced the rest of the industry – the only major US credit card issuer to grow both simultaneously over this period.
Executive in Residence
Executive in Residence
CEO
Recognized for re-energizing the then-flagging company. During Josh’s tenure, Skype evolved from being voice-centric to becoming synonymous with video-calling; added more than 300 million users; became ubiquitous across mobile and consumer electronic devices; struck breakthrough partnerships with companies including Facebook and Verizon; and grew from 8% to 25% of the world's international calling minutes. As a result, revenues doubled and profits tripled over this 2.5 year period. Skype was the 2nd-fastest growing brand by value (after Facebook) during the 2008-2010 period according to Landor & Associates. Valued at <$2B when Josh joined in eary 2008, Skype's sale to MSFT for $8.5B was announced in May, 2011. In recognition of his contributions, TechCrunch nominated Mr. Silverman as first runner-up for "CEO of the Year" in 2010.
CEO
Shopping.com is the 6th largest eCommerce destination in the US, and a leader in the UK, France, Germany, and Australia. Shopping.com went public in Oct 2004, and was acquired by eBay for approximately $630M in August, 2005. The company has over 300 employees in 6 offices around the world.
Managing Director, Markplaats.nl & eBay NL
CEO of Markplaats.nl / eBay NL businesses.
Led the (220M Euro) acquisition of Marktplaats.nl. Responsible for leading the (150-person) Marktplaats business post-acquisition.
At acquisition, Marktplaats was already one of the most high-penetrated eCommerce sites in the world. Over the 2.5 years post-acquisition, we more than doubled traffic (to 60% monthly reach of online users in NL, with an average of 10 visits/visitor/month; and 2B monthly pageviews); while growing revenue and profits each by >400%.
Also led the build-out of eBay's pan-European Classifieds business, including the acquisitions of Marktplaats (NL), Gumtree (UK), Loquo (ES), and OpusForum (DE); along with the launch of our own brand (Kijiji) in IT, FR, and DE, all over a period of 12 months. From scratch we built a leading position in European Classifieds within one year, and have over-performed vs eBay's ambitious expectations on all key operating metrics (traffic, revenue, profits, etc). Managing Director, Markplaats.nl & eBay NL
GM, International Expansion
GM, International Expansion
Co-Founder & CEO
Evite.com is the leading social event planning site on the Web, facilitating more than 16 million invitations to more than 450,000 events each month. Since its inception in 1998, Evite has won the hearts of millions of users across the US, (re-)defined a vocabulary for event organizing (becoming a Verb in it's own right), and has won countless awards, including the presitigious Webby award for Best Online Service (twice!). Launched in 1998, Evite.com is headquartered in Los Angeles. Evite.com is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).
Josh was a co-founder and CEO of Evite until it's sale to IAC in 2001.
VP & GM, Regional Field Service Business
Managed $10M business with 26 employees dispersed across the Western United States. Also held title of Director, Corp Dev.
Management Consultant
Management consultant advising Hospitals and Health Insurers on business expansion opportunities and process re-engineering
Legislative Correspondent ("LC")
Legislative Correspondent ("LC")
Education
MBA
MBA
BA
BA - Public Policy
Skills
Core technical and professional competencies derived from two decades of executive leadership in global technology and e-commerce.
Strategic Planning
Executive Management
Corporate Development
Business Strategy
Go-to-market Strategy
Mergers & Acquisitions
Venture Capital
Leadership
Cross-functional Team Leadership
Inspiring Leadership
Team Management
Executive Coaching
Thought Leadership
E-commerce
Global Marketplaces
Product Innovation
Product Management
Digital Marketing
Monetization
Mobile Internet
Start-ups
Entrepreneurship
Business Development
Strategic Alliances
Fundraising
Domains
E-commerce, Global Marketplaces, Consumer Technology, Fintech (American Express)
Social Event Planning (Evite), Telecommunications (Skype), Classifieds (eBay)
Civic Engagement, Non-profit (Code Nation), Retail (Shake Shack)
Tags
Visionary, Results-Oriented, Entrepreneurial, Transformative, Civic-Minded
Scaling Global Businesses, Product-Led Growth, Turnarounds, Digital Transformation
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Frequently Asked Questions
Josh Silverman is a technology executive known for his CEO roles at Etsy, Skype, and Shopping.com, and his upcoming transition at Etsy in 2026.
When does Josh Silverman transition from Etsy CEO?
When did Josh Silverman become Etsy CEO?
He began his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of Etsy in May 2017.
What companies did Josh Silverman lead before Etsy?
He previously served as CEO of Skype, CEO of Shopping.com (an eBay company), and co-founder and CEO of Evite.
What is Josh Silverman's role at Code Nation?
He serves as the Chairman of Code Nation, a non-profit focused on teaching coding skills to students.
Is Josh Silverman on the Instacart board?
Yes, the career timeline indicates he has been involved with Instacart since August 2025.