High-Profile Female Leaders Join Instacart’s Board
The board of directors at Instacart is getting some fresh thought leadership and talent with the appointment of two female leaders. Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of The New York Times Co., and Lily Sarafan, co-founder and executive chair of Home Care Assistance, will help the online grocer continue to grow its business and provide more service and value to its customers.
With decades of experience in the news industry, Kopit Levien brings a keen understanding of content and audience as well as deep expertise in digital products and subscription innovation at a time of massive transformation in that sector. Before joining The New York Times as COO and, later, as its president and CEO, she served as publisher and chief revenue officer at Forbes. As she advises Instacart, the news executive will help the company enhance its own membership offering, Instacart Express.
“With more than 20 years working on the business of journalism, I’ve had a firsthand look at the digital evolution of an industry that’s been essential in people’s daily lives for centuries. Similarly, grocery is in the midst of an important evolution of its own, and I believe Instacart can play a critical role in the digital transformation of their industry,” Kopit Levien remarked.
Sarafan’s longtime work in the caregiving industry, including her role shepherding Home Care Assistance from a startup to an industry leader that uses an integrated approach to aging, has provided her with a strong background in operational execution and the creation of at-scale, sustainable businesses. She also serves on the board of directors at Thumbtack and Kyo and as a board trustee at Stanford University. Adept at creating and advising leading consumer marketplaces, she will help Instacart enhance its full experience to support shoppers, customers, retailers and brands.
“As a customer, I’ve experienced firsthand how Instacart can reshape the way household’s access and discover new foods. As an entrepreneur, I know that driving innovation in an industry that’s an integral — and often deeply personal — part of everyone’s life is not a simple task. I’ve been impressed by Instacart’s role as a chief ally for the broader grocery industry, elevating the experience for retailers and customers alike,” Sarafan said.
Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, welcomed the two additions to the organization’s board. “Meredith’s expertise and passion lies in launching and scaling digital products with leading subscription models. Her unique perspective will serve as a guiding force as we continue to enhance our service and deliver even more value to customers, particularly through our own membership offering, Instacart Express. Lily is exceptional at building at-scale, sustainable businesses in complex industries. She brings a deep passion for building consumer marketplaces that infuse technology into everyday tasks to make them more accessible and affordable, as well as invaluable experience supporting a community of thousands of frontline workers,” she declared.
Kopit Levien and Sarafan join several other members of Instacart's board of directors, including CEO Simo; Instacart founder and executive chairman Apoorva Mehta; Barry McCarthy, former CFO of both Spotify and Netflix; Daniel Sundheim, founder and chief information officer of D1 Capital Partners; Frank Slootman, chairman and CEO of Snowflake; Michael Moritz, managing member at Sequoia Capital; and Jeff Jordan, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Instacart partners with more than 600 national, regional and local retailers, including unique brand names, to deliver from nearly 55,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America. Instacart’s platform is available to over 85% of U.S. households and 80% of Canadian households.
