Match Group Announces Senior Management Changes

NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH) today announced a series of senior management appointments to more effectively manage the business and drive global growth.  As previously announced, Greg Blatt, Chairman of Match Group, will become Chairman and CEO of the company, effective December 31, 2015.  In addition, the following executive appointments have been made:

• Mandy Ginsberg, currently CEO of The Princeton Review (and formerly CEO of Match.com U.S.), will become CEO of Match Group North America. Ms. Ginsberg will be responsible for the Match U.S. brand, Match Affinity Brands, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, and overall North American expansion.
• Alexandre Lubot, currently CEO of Meetic, will become CEO of Match Group Europe, responsible for Meetic, Twoo and other European brands, focused on the further expansion of Match Group businesses within the region.
• Navin Ramachandran, COO of Match Group, will become CEO of Match Group Asia/Latin America, responsible for Pairs, Couples, ParPerfeito, Match Asia, and further expansion within these regions. Mr. Ramachandran will also retain his duties as COO of Match Group.
• Kate Walker, currently CFO of The Princeton Review, will become CEO of The Princeton Review.
• Sharmistha (Shar) Dubey, currently Chief Product Officer of The Princeton Review (and formerly Chief Product Officer of Match.com U.S.), will become President of Match Group North America.
• Hesam Hosseini, currently General Manager, Emerging Brands, will become General Manager of PlentyOfFish.

Sean Rad will continue as CEO of Tinder and Mr. Blatt will remain Executive Chairman of Tinder. 

Sam Yagan, currently CEO of Match Group, will join the Match Group Board.  He will serve as Vice Chairman, a non-executive position that will encompass his service on the Match Group Board, his continuing service on the Tinder Board, and an ongoing advisory relationship with the company. 

"Each of our major dating businesses will continue to be managed independently, but this leadership structure provides greater access for each business to the benefits of being part of our broad portfolio.  Mandy, Shar, Alex and Navin are all seasoned dating executives familiar with what has driven success across our brands, and this structure allows them to more efficiently share that knowledge, along with access to our resources, with their covered businesses.  Additionally, this structure allows me to devote more time to helping Sean and his team manage Tinder's rapid growth and to focus on the Match Group initiatives likely to drive the most shareholder value at any given time," said Mr. Blatt.

"I've worked with Mandy and Shar for years, first at the Match business and then at The Princeton Review, and I think they're ideally suited to lead Match Group North America right now.  Their expertise in marketing and product development as well as their overall leadership skills are exactly what we need to drive those businesses going forward," continued Mr. Blatt.

"Alex has done a great job at Meetic over the past few years and I'm confident that his deeper involvement with Twoo will help drive that business' strategy as well.  He'll also expand his focus to explore other opportunities for Match Group growth across the European market," added Mr. Blatt.

"Navin has had a variety of operation roles within the company, and has already been running our Latin American business for the past few years.  I'm excited about him focusing his energy on the Japanese market, where we are gaining traction following the acquisition of Pairs, and on the rest of Asia as we seek to continue our rapid growth in this underpenetrated area," said Mr. Blatt.

"Hesam has been actively involved with PlentyOfFish since we announced the acquisition.  He brings the perfect combination of energy and enthusiasm, together with intimate knowledge of how we've successfully done things at our other brands, to the PlentyOfFish business," noted Mr. Blatt. 

"Kate is a seasoned veteran of the education space and has done a great job since joining The Princeton Review as CFO.  I am confident in her ability to continue to drive the business forward as its principal leader," continued Mr. Blatt.

"I also want to thank Sam for his service as CEO of Match Group.  We are delighted to have him join the Match Group Board and remain on the Tinder Board. He co-founded OkCupid and has successfully managed a lot of change at our company since becoming CEO in 2012.  I highly value his advice and counsel across our businesses and look forward to him helping us in this new role," concluded Mr. Blatt. 

Mandy Ginsberg 
Mandy Ginsberg currently serves as CEO of The Princeton Review. Under Mandy's leadership the education business has expanded into three services to include online tutoring, test prep and college counseling. Mandy previously served as CEO of Match during an unprecedented period of growth in the company's history from 2006 to 2012.

Mandy's customer experience acumen developed during her tenure as Vice President of Consumer Technology for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, then subsequently in her role as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at i2 Technologies.

Mandy holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

She is a member of the Board of Directors at J.C. Penney Company, Inc.

Alexandre Lubot 
Alexandre Lubot currently serves as CEO of Meetic Group, where he leads the operations of the European dating brands. Previously, he served as Meetic's Chief Marketing Officer, where the numerous innovations and changes he implemented drove the company's organic growth and brand positioning in Europe.

Prior to that, Alexandre spent 12 years at Procter & Gamble, where he held various operational and strategic positions in France and internationally, both in brand marketing and in business leadership roles.

Alexandre holds a Master in Management from ESCP Europe (Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris).

Navin Ramachandran 
Navin Ramachandran currently serves as the Chief Operations Officer of Match Group and General Manager of People Media.  Navin has served in multiple roles since joining Match in 2012, including GM of Match Events and GM of Match Latin America.  Prior to Match, Navin held various management and consulting roles at Amyris, i2 Technologies and McKinsey & Company. 

Navin holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology and a Master's in Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Kate Walker
Kate Eberle Walker is currently the CFO of The Princeton Review.  Kate is a leader in education with 15 years of experience advising, acquiring and investing in education companies.

Kate joined The Princeton Review after spending eight years at Kaplan, Inc. where she worked on multiple acquisitions. Before Kaplan, she advised education and media companies as part of the Investment Banking team at Goldman Sachs.

Kate holds a BS in Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sharmistha (Shar) Dubey
Shar Dubey currently serves as Chief Product Officer for The Princeton Review, where she is focused on creating innovative features and developing the product roadmap.  Shar joined the company in 2013 after spending seven years at Match.com where she oversaw product strategy, product management and business operation performance for Match.com and Chemistry.com, driving 60% growth in revenues.

Shar holds an undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and earned a Master's degree from Ohio State University.

Hesam Hosseini
Hesam Hosseini currently serves as General Manager, Emerging Brands. Over the past few years, Hesam has led high growth, cross portfolio initiatives across marketing, product and technology functions. Hesam has served in various roles since joining the company in 2008 including GM of New Initiatives and GM of Match International. Prior to Match, Hesam held various management roles at technology startups and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Hesam holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from The University of Western Ontario.

About Match Group 

Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH) is the world's leading provider of dating products.  We operate a portfolio of over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime, BlackPeopleMeet and FriendScout24, each designed to increase our users' likelihood of finding a romantic connection.  Through our portfolio of trusted brands, we provide tailored products to meet the varying preferences of our users.  We currently offer our dating products in 38 languages across more than 190 countries.  In addition to our dating business, we also operate The Princeton Review, which provides a variety of test preparation, academic tutoring and college counseling services.

SOURCE Match Group