Deb Liu
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|
Deborah Liu | |
|---|---|
| Born | United States |
| Education | Duke University (BSE) Stanford Graduate School of Business |
| Occupation | Technology executive |
| Known for | Former CEO of Ancestry.com Founder of Ember AI |
Board member of | Intuit |
Deborah Liu is an American technology executive and the former CEO of genealogy company, Ancestry from 2021 to January 2025[1][2] Liu served on the board of Intuit[3] and co-founded the nonprofit organisation Women in Product.[4][5][6] She is the founder of the artificial intelligence startup Ember AI.[7]
Early life and education
[edit]Liu is of Chinese descent and her parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s.[8] She was raised in a small town in South Carolina.[9] She is a graduate of Duke University (B.S.E in Civil Engineering) and Stanford Business School.[10]
Career
[edit]Liu was director of product for the end-to-end buyer experience at eBay and spearheaded the integration between eBay and PayPal.[3][11] She was director of product marketing management and product management at PayPal.[12]
In 2009, she joined Facebook,[13] where she worked on Facebook Credits and Facebook Platform[14] and helped build their mobile app install ad business.[15] In 2016, as VP of product development, she relaunched Facebook Marketplace[8][16] and became VP of marketplace in 2017.[17]
After being at Facebook for 11 years, Liu joined Ancestry.com as its CEO March 1, 2021.[18]
She was included on Business Insider's list of "The Most Powerful Female Engineers"[19] and PaymentsSource's list of "The Most Influential Women in Payments",[20] and is a member of the Committee of 100.[21]
In August 2022, she published her first book "Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work".[8] Liu is a seed investor and advisor to startups.[22]
She stepped down as CEO of Ancestry in January 2025 following a diagnosis of breast cancer and to spend more time with her family.[4]
Following her departure from Ancestry, Liu founded the artificial intelligence startup Ember AI.[7] She has also spoken publicly about the role of artificial intelligence in the workplace, highlighting disparities in AI adoption between men and women.[7][23]
References
[edit]- ↑ Ford, Brody; Chang, Emily (February 3, 2021). "Facebook Executive Deborah Liu Named CEO of Ancestry.com". Bloomberg News.
- ↑ "Our Team | Ancestry Corporate". Ancestry.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- 1 2 Intuit (July 20, 2017). "Intuit Appoints Deborah Liu to Board of Directors" (Press release) – via BusinessWire.
- 1 2 Yip, Randall (December 22, 2025). "Loss, racism, and cancer can't stop CEO Deb Liu". AsAmNews. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
- ↑ "About Us – Board of Directors". Women in Product. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ↑ Stanton, Zack (April 22, 2020). "'We wanted to be incredibly aggressive with this'". Politico.
- 1 2 3 Yip, Randall (February 9, 2026). "AI startup founder warns women are falling behind in AI race". AsAmNews. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Ancestry CEO: Being labeled 'the other' was my rocket fuel to succeed". msnbc.com. August 12, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ↑ Connley, Courtney (January 5, 2024). "Why Ancestry CEO Deborah Liu Believes Rejection Can Be a Gift". Chief. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
- ↑ "Facebook Platform, 10 years later: VP Deb Liu on the social network's expanding developer program". geekwire.com. July 26, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ↑ Olsen, Parmy (January 29, 2018). "Meet The Woman Building Facebook's eBay-Killer". Forbes.
- ↑ "Deborah Liu, director of product, Facebook platform at Facebook". businessinsider.com. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ↑ Deb Liu (November 14, 2017). "'Optimize for people and passion,' says Facebook's Deb Liu". The Lily (Washington Post) (Interview). Interviewed by The Lily and OK Real.
- ↑ Winn, Layne (October 15, 2019). "Founder of Facebook Marketplace Deb Liu shares how Sheryl Sandberg convinced her to join". ABC News.
- ↑ Lynley, Matthew (February 12, 2014). "Meet The Woman Behind One Of Facebook's Fastest-Growing And Most Lucrative New Businesses". BuzzFeed News.
- ↑ Thau, Barbara (December 27, 2018). "Facebook 'Marketplace' Executive Reveals Key Retail Trends For 2019". Forbes.
- ↑ "Facebook's Eddie O'Neil takes over Platform as Deb Liu grows Marketplace". techcrunch.com. September 13, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ↑ "Ancestry.com Taps Facebook Executive for CEO Role". Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. February 4, 2021.
- ↑ Bort, Julie; Sandler, Rachel (June 21, 2018). "The 39 Most Powerful Female Engineers of 2018". Business Insider.
- ↑ "Deb Liu". wsj.com. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ↑ "Members - Committee of 100 - Deborah Liu". Committee of 100. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ↑ "How This Tech Leader Found Her Voice and Took the Reins of a Major Company". entrepreneur.com. August 19, 2022. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ↑ Kaplan, Ben (February 9, 2026). "AI Startup Founder Warns Women Falling Behind in AI Race". National Today. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
- Living people
- EBay employees
- Facebook employees
- PayPal people
- American people of Chinese descent
- American businesspeople in the computer industry
- American chief executives in technology
- 21st-century American businesswomen
- 21st-century American businesspeople
- Duke University alumni
- Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
- American business biography stubs