The co-founder of Redbubble, Martin Hosking, is set to exit the company after leading the business as CEO since 2006.
This comes amid a leadership shakeup at the marketplace company, which sells print-on-demand products, including fashion items, based on user-submitted artwork.
The Redbubble marketplace was born in 2006 in Melbourne. A decade after launch, the company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2016. Two years later, the company acquired TeePublic, an American company similar to Redbubble, with a focus on clothing.
In late 2023, the Redbubble group was renamed to Articore.
Despite being Australian-born, 75 per cent of the group’s revenue now comes from North America, which is believed to be the key reason why Articore has fully revised its leadership team.
Hosking is being succeeded by US-based Vivek Kumar, taking on the group CEO role effective immediately.
Kumar was previously the CEO of marketplaces and TeePublic under the group since 2022.
“Vivek has demonstrated his ability to grow both revenue and margin at TeePublic, and he is now driving material synergies and efficiencies through the unification of the group's two businesses,” Articore shared in an ASX update.
On top of this, US-based director Robin Mendelson has been appointed as chair of the Articore board, taking over from Anne Ward. Ward is still currently the chair of The Star Entertainment Group board. Ward has left Articore alongside Hosking and fellow board director Ben Heap, all effective immediately.
The board has thanked Ward, Hosking and Heap for their contributions to the company.
Mendelson has been a member of the Articore board since July 2024. She is also currently a board member of Mynd AI, a personal mental wellness app based in Seattle, as well as Acedeum and Mainstay.
Mendelson joined the Articore board after a 20-year career with global e-commerce leader Amazon. As CEO of Amazon’s US media consumer group, Mendelson reportedly delivered multi-year revenue and earnings growth across the multi-billion dollar division through customer-focused innovation, product development, supply chain optimisation and continuous operational improvements.
“Her appointment reflects the board’s longstanding commitment to the immediate and long-term sustainability and success of the company, and its intention to align senior leadership with growth priorities,” Articore Group shared.
“Under Robin Mendelson’s leadership, the board intends to implement further steps as part of the renewal process. The board has commenced a process to identify and appoint another Australian-based non-executive director, who is intended to become chairman of the people, remuneration and nominations committees.”