Wayfair Names Chief Financial Officer

December 9, 2013  by in Executive Changes, Furniture Retailing, Industry   

Fleisher brings expertise in public markets, mergers and acquisitions and guidance on strategic direction and global expansion. His appointment follows a year of record growth for the retailer. 

Fleisher succeeds Nicholas Malone in the CFO's post. Malone has been named chief administrative officer and will continue to oversee finance, legal, human resources and real estate for the company. Malone will report to Fleisher.

Prior to joining Wayfair, Fleisher was vice chairman of strategy and operations for Warner Music Group where he oversaw the company's global corporate strategy and operations. At Warner, he managed corporate development and merger and acquisition activity and led the sale of the company to Access Industries in a transaction valued at more than $3 billion. Fleisher joined Warner in 2005 as executive vice president and CFO and worked to take the company public in May 2005.

"Following an extensive search process, it became very clear that Michael was the ideal person to help lead Wayfair.com through the next steps on our exciting path to becoming the world's leading e-commerce player in the $400 billion home goods market," said Niraj Shah, CEO and co-founder. "In addition to bringing a strong and seasoned voice to our executive management team, we are confident that Michael's impressive track record and unrivaled expertise in public markets, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy will help us achieve our long term goals."

Prior to joining Warner, Fleisher was chairman and CEO of Gartner, a technology research group where he led the company's initial public offering and its move to the New York Stock Exchange. He has also held positions with Bain Capital  and Bain & Co. 

"Wayfair.com is on a stunning growth trajectory toward becoming the dominant global e-commerce player in a major market segment," Fleisher said. "My goal has been to join a company with amazing founders, a world class leadership team, passionate customers and an unbridled growth opportunity.  Wayfair.com is that company. I could not be more honored to collaborate with Niraj, Steve, Nick and the entire team to keep building Wayfair.com and delivering for our customers.  I am excited to draw from my past experiences and play an integral role in guiding Wayfair.com through its continued growth and evolution."