Instacart names Facebook veteran Everson as president

Everson spent more than a decade at Facebook before stepping down as its advertising head in June

Instacart on Wednesday named Facebook Inc veteran Carolyn Everson as president and said she would lead its retail and advertising businesses, as the grocery delivery company hires more fresh leadership ahead of an expected public listing.

Everson joins a growing list of former Facebook employees joining Instacart. Everson will report to the company’s new CEO Fidji Simo, who was previously head of the Facebook app.

Simo, a former Facebook executive, joined Instacart earlier this month while Goldman Sachs banker Nick Giovanni joined the grocery startup as its finance chief in January.

She succeeds Instacart’s current president Nilam Ganenthiran, who has been appointed to the newly formed senior leadership position of strategic adviser to the CEO.

Everson spent more than a decade at Facebook before stepping down as its advertising head in June. She was a key spokesperson for the company last summer when more than 1,000 advertisers boycotted the social media giant over concerns it was not doing enough to combat hate speech.

In her new role, Everson will be tasked with bringing in new advertisers on Instacart’s app as the nine-year-old startup looks to broaden its business beyond delivering groceries.

With Everson’s appointment, Instacart said women now accounted for more than half its executive leadership.

I think we have a leadership team now fully in place that can scale the company and take it public, Chief Executive Officer Fidji Simo told Reuters, adding that she does not expect to make a lot more big hires.

Reuters reported in March that Instacart was considering going public through a direct listing, just a few days after a funding round valued the company at $39 billion.