Wayfair Names People Chief as Its Next CFO

Wayfair has revealed that its longtime CFO, Michael Fleisher, will be retiring later this year. The online home goods retailer has anointed its Chief People Officer, Kate Gulliver, as Fleisher’s successor. She has assumed the title of incoming CFO effective immediately.

Gulliver will formally assume the CFO and Chief Accounting Officer role in November and oversee the Boston-based company’s Finance, Legal, Talent, Real Estate and Corporate Affairs teams. Fleisher will stay on for a transition period until his official retirement on January 15, 2023.

Fleisher has been with Wayfair since October 2013 and led the company through its meteoric growth, IPO and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the company’s announcement, Fleisher said his decision was part of a “commitment to myself and my family years ago to retire on this timeline,” and that “Kate is uniquely qualified to take on this role and to continue to propel Wayfair’s growth story.”

Gulliver initially joined Wayfair in February 2014 as Head of Investor Relations and helped usher the company through its October 2014 IPO before she was promoted to Chief People Officer in April 2016. Before her time at the e-commerce giant, she was a VP at Bain Capital and a consultant at McKinsey.

“Kate, Michael and I have been working side-by-side, literally, for the past eight years, and no one is better positioned to step into this role than Kate,” CEO Niraj Shah stated in a press release. “She is a trusted counselor and has been part of every major decision at the company since becoming head of Talent. She is exceptional at balancing strategic vision, financial discipline, business savvy and people leadership. I’m excited we will work even more closely together in her new capacity.”

The executive changeup at Wayfair follows a period of turmoil for the company in which it has seen earnings fall due to economic conditions and global supply chain struggles. Last quarter, the company suffered larger-than-expected losses and reported that its count of active customers in the first quarter of 2022 declined by more than 23%, compared to the same period a year prior.

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