• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 4, 2021

Instacart made a significant move Wednesday, naming Carolyn Everson as its new president, effective September 7, 2021.

The appointment increases women's leadership roles in the executive branch to 55% at the online grocery delivery service, and also puts two women who held pivotal positions at Facebook, each for more than 10 years, in the top two roles — CEO and president — at Instacart as the company waits to go through an initial public offering. The company revealed in June 2020 it would file for an IPO.

Everson, who is Facebook’s former global ad chief, departed the company in June, where she had a pivotal role building and growing the company’s digital advertising platform — the second-largest in the world behind Google.

Prior to Facebook, Everson served as corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams, where she led the company’s advertising business across Bing, MSN, Windows Live, Mobile, Gaming, Atlas, and the Microsoft Media Network.

Everson also spent nearly seven years at MTV Networks, where she served as COO and Executive Vice President of U.S. ad sales for MTV Networks. 

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo believes Everson’s experience and authenticity will become a key growth driver as the company prepares for its next chapter. She said it is about “unlocking more inspiration, personalization and accessibility for consumers around the world.” 

Simo spent two-and-a-half years running Facebook App and two years as the head of Video, Games, Monetization. She also spent six years in product marketing, management and advertising at Facebook.

As president, Everson will oversee Instacart’s Retail, Business Development and Advertising businesses, as well as the company’s People, Policy and Government Affairs, Legal, Partnerships, Instacart Pickup, and Care teams.

About 80% of Instacart’s customers are female, and about 70% of the shoppers are female. The company supports about 600 retail partners and thousands of advertisers helping to power the marketplace.

Instacart’s executive team includes Simo, Everson, COO Asha Sharma, CCO Dani Dudeck, and CHRO Christina Hall.

Everson reports directly to Simo. She succeeds Instacart’s current president, Nilam Ganenthiran, who has been appointed to a new senior leadership position — Strategic Advisor to the CEO. 

Everson holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts and Communications from Villanova University, from which she graduated summa cum laude. She also earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.

She is on the Board of Creative Artists Agency, as well as the Humane Society of the U.S., the Mobile Marketing Association, and the Advertising Women of New York Foundation. She is also a member of the Villanova University Board of Trustees.