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’s founder to return on an interim basis.
Irina Novoselsky’s departure and Ryan Holmes’s return were both announced Monday in separate LinkedIn posts, which made no mention of the recent criticism that has engulfed the company.
Holmes said he “couldn’t be more thrilled to be back.”
Novoselsky said she was “incredibly grateful” to have led Hootsuite, but now that she has restored Hootsuite to profitability, she and the board felt it is “the right moment for a leadership transition.”
Holmes founded the Vancouver-based company, which makes social media marketing tools, in 2008. He ran the firm until 2019, when he stepped down. Media reports at the time said Holmes had been shopping around the business for $750 million but failed to find a buyer.
Novoselsky took the helm in 2023, when the dynamics of the social media world were dramatically changing after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and Hootsuite was facing a wave of competition and profitability struggles.
The company carried out several rounds of layoffs in recent years but was rebounding by pushing artificial intelligence tools and other offerings available after Hootsuite’s 2024 purchase of analytics firm Talkwalker.
However, Novoselsky’s tenure was seen through a more critical lens after the public learned three months ago that Hootsuite has been providing services to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since August 2024.
The DHS oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE has angered many people because of its recent immigration clampdown in the state of Minnesota and the January deaths of two U.S. citizens in federal agent-involved shootings.
News of Hootsuite’s involvement with DHS sparked protests outside the company’s headquarters and demands that Hootsuite cancel its contracts and publicly apologize.
Protesters gather outside Hootsuite headquarters in response to contract with ICE
Novoselsky held strong and kept the contract, though she admitted in January that “what we are watching unfold right now is wrong” and called the loss of life “devastating.”
Now that she’s leaving, she said “the focus for Hootsuite’s next chapter is clear: accelerating product development at the intersection of AI and social.”
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.
However, social media companies like Facebook have been integrating such tools into their own platforms, reducing some of the value Hootsuite offers.
Yet the firm doesn’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 “to help both our customers and ourselves move faster and work smarter.”
“We’ve built a real foundation: a strong enterprise business, powerful data and listening capabilities, early traction in AI, and a more focused, disciplined company,” he said in a statement to The Canadian Press.
“Now it’s time to build on that foundation. I’m excited to be back and defining the next AI-driven era of Hootsuite.”
It’s unclear whether Holmes wants the CEO job for the long haul and what he will do about the DHS contract.
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 “a position of strength” and Holmes will “accelerate” the business.
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.
“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,” she said.
