Shopify restaffed most of its leadership team during the pandemic, and now the top brass of what was once Canada’s most valuable company isn’t looking very Canadian.
Driving the news: All but one of the nine new execs Shopify has hired since the pandemic are Americans, and none of them are currently located in Canada, per The Logic.
- When Shopify went public in 2015, every executive was living in Ontario.
Why it’s happening: There aren’t a whole lof of Canadians with experience running giant tech companies, simply because there aren’t many giant tech companies in Canada.
- The inability to find seasoned tech sector vets in Canada has been a longtime complaint, but newly digital workplaces mean leaders can live anywhere.
Execs are coming from places like Morgan Stanley and the White House (ever heard of it?), to support ambitions of landing bigger (read: US) clients—a new core business focus.
Zoom out: Shopify has been held up as a Canadian success story, but it now lists its home as the Internet Anywhere. While still incorporated in Canada, it’s increasingly looking like it’s going to take international talent to right the ship after a rocky year.