The appointment comes in the backdrop of a wave of executive departures and three CFO changes over the last year.
- The Trade Desk has named Sarah Gavin as chief marketing officer and executive vice president.
- An Adweek report from this week said that frustration among departing executives has centered on the company’s rising take rate and internal leadership decisions under CEO Jeff Green.
- The company continues to face slowing growth, largely due to intense competition from Amazon and macro uncertainty.
The Trade Desk (TTD) said Thursday that it has appointed Sarah Gavin as its next chief marketing officer, a move it expects will help turn things around following the exodus of many key executives at the struggling advertising technology company.
Gavin joins the company from Zendesk (ZEN), a cloud-based customer service and sales software platform, where she held the same title.
Prior to Zendesk, Gavin has worked at Google Cloud (GOOG, GOOGL), where she led the global narrative strategy for the tech giant. Before that, she spent more than a decade at Expedia Group (EXPE), overseeing their global communications and corporate brand.
Gavin will report to CEO Jeff Green and take over responsibilities from interim CMO Anna Sayre, who will resume her duties as SVP, global brand marketing. She will start at the company on June 15, ahead of the arrival of new chief financial officer, Nate Olmstead, who will join early next month.
The company saw the exits of its marketing chief, Ian Colley, and revenue chief, Anders Mortensen, as well as at least three CFOs, many board members, and other senior talent, over the span of a year.
An Adweek report from this week said that frustration among departing executives has centered on the company’s rising take rate and internal leadership decisions under CEO Jeff Green.
All of this comes as the company continues to face slowing growth, largely due to intense competition from Amazon (AMZN) and macro uncertainty. For the first quarter of 2026, revenue rose 10%, compared to a 25% surge in the same period last year.
In a recent note, Morningstar stated that while the upcoming 2026 World Cup could provide a boost to Trade Desk, it believes Amazon’s demand-side platform will continue to poach much of the business.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around TTD stock remained in ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours amid ‘high’ message volumes.
One user on the platform is optimistic and wrote: “Green just hired the person whose whole career is fixing broken stories at tech companies in transition.”
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Another user noted that the CEO is at least working on stabilizing the company.
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TTD stock has lost more than half its value so far this year and nearly three-quarters of its value over the past 12 months.
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