SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Indiegogo, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, announces the appointment of Victor Kovalev, former Director of Engineering at Yelp, as Vice President of Engineering to lead the company’s web and mobile advancements. The addition of Kovalev rounds out a talented leadership team that will oversee Indiegogo’s global growth as the world’s funding engine. The team has been created with a focus on attracting the most talented group of executives in business and technology.
In addition to Kovalev and co-founders Slava Rubin, Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell, the Indiegogo leadership team includes:
- David Mandelbrot: Senior Vice President, Operations
- Jerry Needel: Vice President, Sales and Marketing
- Liz Wald: Vice President, International
- Shannon Swallow: Vice President, Marketing Communications
- Sinohe Terrero: Vice President, Finance and Accounting
- Tim French: Vice President and General Counsel
“Since January 2008, we have been focused on recruiting the best and brightest to join our team to help drive our vision of democratizing funding worldwide,” said Slava Rubin, CEO of Indiegogo. “I’m honored to continue working alongside this talented leadership team, that not only has the experience and capabilities to fuel Indiegogo’s expansion, but also reflects our mission-driven culture and values.”
“My experience and passion lie in building engineering-driven cultures that foster radical innovation,” said Victor Kovalev, Vice President of Engineering at Indiegogo. “That’s why I’m excited to be joining an organization that is equally dedicated to embracing this spirit while leading the industry in making funding more accessible and campaigns more successful than ever before.”
The announcement of Indiegogo’s leadership team follows news last month that tech luminaries including Sir Richard Branson, Max Levchin, Megan Smith and Maynard Webb have invested in Indiegogo. Earlier this year, the company raised $40 million in Series B funding.
Additional background on the leadership team:
David Mandelbrot
David Mandelbrot is Senior Vice President of Operations, overseeing product, customer happiness and business development for the company. Immediately before Indiegogo, Mandelbrot was the CEO of Tynt Multimedia. A 15-year veteran of the online media business, Mandelbrot spent nearly seven years at Yahoo! where he was the VP and GM of Media and Entertainment leading the team that built Yahoo! Finance, News and Sports into the most highly trafficked media properties in those categories in the world.
Jerry Needel
Jerry Needel is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, responsible for maximizing Indiegogo’s growth and presence in key vertical and international markets. Immediately prior to Indiegogo, Needel held various leadership roles at The Nielsen Company, including COO of NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Joint Venture and General Manager of Nielsen’s social media business. Prior to Nielsen, Needel helped to start and lead market adoption for BuzzMetrics, one of the largest social media analytics companies in the world, which was acquired by The Nielsen Company.
Liz Wald
Liz Wald is Vice President of International. She is responsible for overseeing global expansion. Prior to Indiegogo, Wald spent four years at Etsy where she led the strategic development and initial operationalization of Etsy’s international efforts. Wald’s history also includes work with The Disney Stores and Nike Inc., where she led the opening of the first Nike Town superstore and developed procedures for launching and managing retail outlets nationwide.
Shannon Swallow
Shannon Swallow is Vice President of Marketing Communications, responsible for developing the company’s global voice and vision. Previously Swallow was Vice President of Marketing at Take Part, Participant Media’s Digital Division, where she was responsible for audience development. She also led integrated marketing efforts at Motorola for several years, where she launched iconic products such as the Motorola Razr.
Sinohe Terrero
Sinohe Terrero is Vice President of Finance and Accounting, overseeing the company’s financial strategy. Terrero was previously the Vice President of Finance and Analytics at Etsy, where he was responsible for leading finance, accounting and business insights. Before Etsy, Terrero was a Vice President in Citigroup’s Global Transactions Group.
Tim French
Tim French is Vice President and General Counsel, in charge of Indiegogo’s corporate and legal operations. Before Indiegogo, French was the Director of Legal Affairs at Coupons.com, where he drove legal functions through the company’s exponential growth and successful IPO. Prior to Coupons.com, French served as Corporate Counsel at Channel Intelligence.
Victor Kovalev
Victor Kovalev is Vice President of Engineering, responsible for leading Indiegogo’s development and implementation of industry-leading technologies and platform offerings. Kovalev was formerly the Director of Engineering at Yelp where he led the launch of Yelp’s Kindle app, the Yelp Platform and Yelp Deals. He simultaneously grew the business’s Android, iPhone and iPad apps, as well as the Yelp for Business Owners website.
Indiegogo launched as the first online crowdfunding platform in January 2008 with a dedication to democratize fundraising by allowing anyone, anywhere to raise money for anything, with no gatekeepers or application process. Indiegogo has hosted more than 200,000 campaigns, and more than 12 million people visit Indiegogo.com each month to explore, fund and launch projects and ideas they are passionate about. In the last two years, Indiegogo has grown by more than 1000 percent.
About Indiegogo
Indiegogo empowers people around the world to fund what matters to them. As the largest global crowdfunding platform, campaigns have launched from almost every country around the world with millions of dollars being distributed every week due to contributions made by the Indiegogo community. At its core, Indiegogo is an open platform dedicated to democratizing the way people raise funds for any project – creative, entrepreneurial or cause-related. The company was launched in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. For more information, visit www.indiegogo.com and follow us at www.twitter.com/indiegogo and www.facebook.com/indiegogo.
