As LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr gears up for its previously announced public listing, the company is making some executive leadership changes to help the transition go smoothly. George Arison, Shift Technologies’ former CEO, will soon take on the same role at Grindr. Vanna Krantz will join him as the company’s new CFO.
West Hollywood-based Grindr strives to help gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people connect with each other, express themselves and discover the world around them, according to the company. Seeing as its mobile app had about 11 million monthly active users in 2021, this goal has resonated with numerous people across the globe. Having grown within the private sector since its launch in 2009, Grindr is heading into its next stage of development under Arison’s leadership this fall.
Arison founded Shift Technologies and previously led the auto e-commerce marketplace company for nine years. In addition to co-founding another venture, which has since been acquired, Arison has worked at Google and Boston Consulting Group. He’s also invested in numerous startups throughout his business career. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community himself, Arison looks forward to helping Grindr grow for years to come as it pursues its mission.
“Grindr is an unbelievable business, and I am beyond excited to help them navigate through this next part of their journey. Their hard work and a laser focus on delivering great products to a starkly underserved market are inspiring, and deliver incredibly strong business results,” Arison said in a statement. “Our community is deserving of amazing business services, and we intend to meet and exceed their expectations.”
Whereas Arison’s new role will be effective as of October 19, Krantz will step up as CFO on September 26. Prior to her latest position, Krantz served as CFO for companies including Passport Labs and MasterClass. She was also responsible for launching and globally scaling the Disney+ streaming platform during her time as CFO at Disney Streaming Services.
Jeff Bonforte and Gary Hsueh will step down from their respective roles as Grindr’s CEO and CFO to take on advisory roles following the leadership change.
“All of us on the small team that acquired Grindr in June [of] 2020 understood that it had the potential to be an amazing business, wholly focused on serving the LGBTQ community. Key to the plan was finding long-term leadership for the business that had not only deep professional experience, but also the life experience to understand the unique and very real challenges facing the global LGBTQ community,” Bonforte said in a statement. “For me, on a personal level, working at Grindr has been an amazing gift; it has helped me to see and to celebrate the splendid diversity of our world and the awesome power of love.”
