Former Mattel CEO to head Ancestry

Ancestry, the Lehi-based family history and consumer genomics company, has appointed Margo Georgiadis as CEO and a member of the board of directors. She will join the company on May 10.

Most recently Georgiadis was CEO of Mattel Inc. and prior to that was president for the Americas at Google Inc. 

Georgiadis will succeed Howard Hochhauser, who has served as interim CEO since October 2017 while the board conducted a six-month search for a permanent CEO. Hochhauser will return to his role as Ancestry’s chief financial officer and chief operations officer.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

“I am thrilled to join Ancestry at a dynamic period of accelerated growth and innovation,” said Georgiadis. “Ancestry is incredibly well-positioned for continued success and rapid expansion, as millions of consumers around the world embark on their journey of self-discovery with us. I am excited to help realize Ancestry’s mission to connect the world and enhance our consumers’ understanding of who they are and where they come from. In partnership with the world-class Ancestry team, together we will seek to drive the company to new heights.”

“Ancestry is at an exciting inflection point as we combine the world’s premier online family history service with our market leadership in the hugely attractive and rapidly expanding sphere of consumer genomics,” said Tim Sullivan, who served as Ancestry’s CEO until September 2017 and is now chairman.

“After an extensive global search, it was clear that Margo is the ideal next leader of Ancestry as the company enhances its strong global position in fast-emerging categories and delivers unique personalized insights to our millions of current and future consumers,” Sullivan said.

In 2017, Ancestry generated more than $1 billion in revenue, an annual increase of more than 30 percent. The company has sold approximately 10 million AncestryDNA kits to date, reflecting a 115 percent year-over-year increase in sales in 2017.

“On behalf of Ancestry’s board of directors and lead investors at Silver Lake, GIC and Spectrum Equity, I am excited to welcome Margo to the company as our next CEO,’ said Stephen Evans, managing director at Silver Lake, a significant stakeholder in Ancestry, and member of Ancestry’s board. “Margo has all of the skills and experience we were looking for with a unique background of successfully driving growth at scale across leading global Internet and consumer-facing businesses, and a strong track record of operating in growth-focused, technology-driven and data-rich environments.” {/mprestriction}