{"id":49941,"date":"2026-04-13T23:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49941"},"modified":"2026-04-13T23:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:33:07","slug":"hootsuite-founder-ryan-holmes-returns-to-ceo-role-on-interim-basis-as-irina-novoselsky-exits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=49941","title":{"rendered":"Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes returns to CEO role on interim basis, as Irina Novoselsky exits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ttsIcon-cIBsl\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"toggletip-tKLKF ttsToggleTip-DSCNQ\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"toggletipInfoButton-yoX4E\" aria-label=\"More information\" aria-controls=\":R89qn5:\" aria-describedby=\":R89qn5:\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" focusable=\"false\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M11 7H13V9H11V7ZM11 11H13V17H11V11ZM12 2C6.48 2 2 6.48 2 12C2 17.52 6.48 22 12 22C17.52 22 22 17.52 22 12C22 6.48 17.52 2 12 2ZM12 20C7.59 20 4 16.41 4 12C4 7.59 7.59 4 12 4C16.41 4 20 7.59 20 12C20 16.41 16.41 20 12 20Z\" fill=\"black\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The CEO of Hootsuite has stepped down after spending the last several months defending a contract between the company and a controversial U.S. government department, making way for the firm&#8217;s founder to return on an interim basis.<\/p>\n<p>Irina Novoselsky&#8217;s departure and Ryan Holmes&#8217;s return were both announced Monday in separate LinkedIn posts, which made no mention of the recent criticism that has engulfed the company.<\/p>\n<p>Holmes said he &#8220;couldn&#8217;t be more thrilled to be back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Novoselsky said she was &#8220;incredibly grateful&#8221; to have led Hootsuite, but now that she has restored Hootsuite to profitability, she and the board felt it is &#8220;the right moment for a leadership transition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Holmes founded the Vancouver-based company, which makes social media marketing tools, in 2008. He ran the firm until 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/hootsuite-founder-and-ceo-announces-he-is-stepping-down-1.5348730\" target=\"_blank\">when he stepped down<\/a>. Media reports at the time said Holmes had been shopping around the business for $750 million but failed to find a buyer.<\/p>\n<p>Novoselsky took the helm in 2023, when the dynamics of the social media world were dramatically changing after Elon Musk&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/business\/musk-twitter-sale-1.6632491\" target=\"_blank\">purchase of Twitter<\/a> and Hootsuite was facing a wave of competition and profitability struggles.<\/p>\n<p>The company carried out several rounds of layoffs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/hootsuite-2nd-round-of-layoffs-1.6638836\" target=\"_blank\">in recent years<\/a> but was rebounding by pushing artificial intelligence tools and other offerings available after Hootsuite&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkwalker.com\/press-release\/hootsuite\" target=\"_blank\">2024 purchase<\/a> of analytics firm Talkwalker.<\/p>\n<h2>Hootsuite and DHS<\/h2>\n<p>However, Novoselsky&#8217;s tenure was seen through a more critical lens after the public learned three months ago that Hootsuite has been providing services to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/vancouver-tech-hootsuite-ceo-homeland-security-ice-9.7065911\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Department of Homeland Security<\/a> (DHS) since August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The DHS oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). <\/p>\n<p>ICE has angered many people because of its recent immigration clampdown in the state of Minnesota and the January <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/world\/kristi-noem-minneapolis-ice-deaths-domestic-terrorism-9.7113018\" target=\"_blank\">deaths of two U.S. citizens<\/a> in federal agent-involved shootings.<\/p>\n<p>News of Hootsuite&#8217;s involvement with DHS sparked protests <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/hootsuite-protest-vancouver-us-department-homeland-security-ice-9.7069265\" target=\"_blank\">outside the company&#8217;s headquarters<\/a> and demands that Hootsuite cancel its contracts and publicly apologize.<\/p>\n<div><em><strong>WATCH | Hootsuite faces criticism over providing services to DHS:<\/strong><\/em><span><span class=\"mediaEmbed\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"player-placeholder-ui-container  \" data-cy=\"player-placeholder-ui-container\">\n<div class=\"player-placeholder-video-ui\" title=\"Protesters gather outside Hootsuite headquarters in response to contract with ICE\" style=\"--aspect-ratio:1.7778;--max-height:800px\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div class=\"player-placeholder-ui\">\n<div class=\"video-item video-card-overlay\" title=\"Protesters gather outside Hootsuite headquarters in response to contract with ICE\">\n<div class=\"thumbnail-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/742b13bc-882a-44ac-86e6-8507f74c2d6b,1769826861345\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C1280%2C720%29%3BResize%3D620\" srcset=\"\" alt=\"\" class=\"thumbnail\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/div>\n<div class=\"video-card-overlay-container\">\n<div class=\"video-info-container\">\n<p class=\"video-item-title\">Protesters gather outside Hootsuite headquarters in response to contract with ICE<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"media-caption\">A protest was held outside the office of Vancouver-based social media management company, Hootsuite. As Troy Charles reports, protesters are concerned about its work with the U.S. Department of Homeland security, which oversees ICE.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Novoselsky held strong and kept the contract, though she admitted in January that &#8220;what we are watching unfold right now is wrong&#8221; and called the loss of life &#8220;devastating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now that she&#8217;s leaving, she said &#8220;the focus for Hootsuite&#8217;s next chapter is clear: accelerating product development at the intersection of AI and social.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Under Novoselsky, Hootsuite poured attention into AI-based software that clients can use to generate captions, post ideas and hashtags, freeing up social media managers for other tasks.<\/p>\n<p>However, social media companies like Facebook have been integrating such tools into their own platforms, reducing some of the value Hootsuite offers.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the firm doesn&#8217;t appear to be straying from AI as a focus area. Holmes said in his Monday post that the company will be investing even further in the technology &#8220;to help both our customers and ourselves move faster and work smarter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>An &#8216;AI-driven era&#8217; to come?<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve built a real foundation: a strong enterprise business, powerful data and listening capabilities, early traction in AI, and a more focused, disciplined company,&#8221; he said in a statement to The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now it&#8217;s time to build on that foundation. I&#8217;m excited to be back and defining the next AI-driven era of Hootsuite.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether Holmes wants the CEO job for the long haul and what he will do about the DHS contract.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the timeline for finding a new CEO, whether Holmes was interested in taking on the job permanently and how he feels about the DHS contract, Hootsuite sent a statement that did not answer any of the questions. It said the company is in &#8220;a position of strength&#8221; and Holmes will &#8220;accelerate&#8221; the business.<\/p>\n<p>Novoselsky said earlier in the year that Hootsuite has worked with government organizations across countries and administrations for more than 15 years, including the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our use-case with ICE does not include tracking or surveillance of individuals using our tools. Any claim otherwise is false and prohibited under our terms of service, which we actively enforce,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/business\/hootsuite-ryan-holmes-returns-irina-novoselsky-steps-down-dhs-9.7162357?cmp=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}