Queer Dating App Grindr Appoints Gay CEO While Going Public

Queer dating app Grindr announced last week that CEO Jeff Bonforte will be handing the reigns to openly gay board member George Arison amidst the company’s transition to joining the public exchange. The decision is also part of their continued effort to appoint leadership that authentically represents the platform’s 11 million active users.

“All of us on the small team that acquired Grindr in June 2020 understood that it had the potential to be an amazing business, wholly focused on serving the LGBTQ+ community,” Bonforte says in a statement. “Key to the plan was finding long-term leadership for the business that had not only deep professional experience but also the life experience to understand the unique and very real challenges facing the global LGBTQ+ community.”

For example, Arison is taking over during the early stages of the Monkeypox Virus (MPV) outbreak, which has caused heavy stigma aground the queer and specifically gay community. Being part of this group himself, he may be better qualified to relate to and support the community in a meaningful way.

Grindr brought Arison on as a board member in May, according to Advocate. Aside from his presence within the LGBTQ community, Bloomberg reports that his prior position as co-founder and CEO of Shift Technologies Inc.—an e-commerce marketplace—and his experience taking Shift from private to public in 2020, made him a desirable candidate to help the company navigate the public marketplace.

“With his extensive experience building innovative businesses and successfully leading them into and through the public markets, I believe there is no one more perfectly positioned to accelerate Grindr’s already strong growth and profitability,” company board chair James Lu tells Advocate. “Grindr, with George at the helm, will succeed and grow as a public company at the same time as it deepens its support of the LGBTQ community.”

After stepping down as Shift’s CEO, Arison intended to take a work break, which he forwent in favor of joining Grindr because of their inspiring mission.

“The mission at Grindr is so powerful for the set of people I’ve been a part of,” Arison says in an interview. “And I’ve seen the power of that from the friends I’ve built with the people I’ve met (on the platform).”

Bloomberg reports that Vanna Krantz—chief financial officer (CFO) at Passports Lab Inc. and prior CFO at Disney Streaming Services—will also join Arison as a top executive. She will take the place of CFO Gary Hsueh who will step into an advisory role along with Bonforte.

“Grindr is an unbelievable business, and I am beyond excited to help them navigate through this next part of their journey,” says Arison.“Their hard work and a laser focus on delivering great products to a starkly underserved market are inspiring and deliver incredibly strong business results.”