Digital travel industry veteran Hichame Assi has been chosen to replace Envato founder Collis Ta’eed as CEO of the Melbourne-based tech marketplace.
The choice of the former HotelsCombined.com boss, who has a Masters in eCommerce from the University of London, follows a year-long global search.
Ta’eed announced in August that he would step down from the operational role at the end of this month. He will remain chair of the company he co-founded with his wife Cyan and friend Jun Rung in 2006.
Assi is a 20 year veteran of the digital transformation of the travel industry and Ta’eed praised his “almost founder-like experience of scaling tech businesses of our size”.
“In fact, it turns out he’s been a customer of ours for a number of years,” he said.
The outgoing CEO said they’d been looking for someone who is a digital native, customer-oriented, and could lead in a way that’s respectful of the values the recently B-Corp certified business has.
“Hichame stood out for his excellent values-alignment, and as someone who also brings with them a globally-minded perspective with experience leading businesses of our scale and complexity,” he said.
“I’ve been working towards this day for some years, and while there will be many things I miss as being CEO, now is the perfect time to step back and let Hichame guide us.”
Hichame said Envato stood out to him for its “inspiring people and community-centric approach”.
“I’m hoping to uphold that legacy while helping to scale it globally in this next phase,” he said.
Trending
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.