Blake Irving is the American former Chief Executive Officer and Board Director ofGoDaddy.[1] Before coming to GoDaddy in 2013, Blake Irving worked forYahoo! andMicrosoft where he helped developNetMeeting,MSN Messenger, andHotmail.
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 theNewbury Park High School[4] in Southern California.[2] Irving is a graduate ofSan Diego State University and received an MBA degree fromPepperdine 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]
Irving began working atXerox 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 atPARC during the development ofWYSIWYG technology,[11] Irving also worked at Oki Electric Company[12] and Compaq computer.[13]
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 theWindows 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 ofMessageCast Inc. and was involved in overseeing other Microsoft products includingNetMeeting,[21]Outlook Express,[20]MSN Messenger,[22]Hotmail,[23]Xbox Live,[24] and other Microsoft applications.[25][26]
Irving worked atYahoo! 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! duringScott Thompson's CEO-ship.[32][33][34] While at Yahoo!, Irving was in charge ofYahoo! Mail, and specific theme-based Yahoo! sites like news, sports, and finance.[35]
Irving became Chief Executive Officer ofGoDaddy 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 hiringElissa Murphy as Chief Technical Officer.[42] Irving said he would retire from the company at the end of 2017.[43]
