Bumble hires Ivanka Trump’s former chief of staff to lead communications as it tries to turn around the struggling dating app business
Bumble's stock is down 57% over the past year.
Bumble Inc. hired Ivanka Trump’s former chief of staff as its new chief communications and corporate affairs officer, the dating app business announced this morning.
Julie Radford joined the company in April in a role that includes overseeing global communications, employee engagement, public policy, and external affairs.
Radford worked for the first daughter between 2017 and 2021, when her portfolio as special assistant to the president included women’s issues. According to Politico, Radford earlier worked for the George W. Bush administration in the Education Department; she later advised Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, where she worked with Dina Powell McCormick, who was deputy national security adviser to President Donald Trump between 2017 and 2018.
Radford was interviewed for the U.S. House select committee's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, and the committee released text messages sent the day of the attack between Radford and Trump aide Hope Hicks lamenting their job prospects as a result of Trump’s response.
Bumble, the dating app, was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd a decade ago and stood out from Tinder in the online dating market by centering women. For years, only women could send the first message on the app in a heterosexual pairing, and the brand’s tagline was “women make the first move.”
The app is now part of $1.07 billion-in-revenue parent company Bumble Inc., which includes the online dating business Badoo and a few other brands. After departing as CEO in late 2023—she was succeeded by former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones—Wolfe Herd returned earlier this year amid the company’s struggles. Users complained about the app experience—from bad behavior by others to the mental health toll of endless swiping—and more broadly have shown less willingness to pay for dating app subscriptions. Its stock is down 57% over the past year.
Wolfe Herd previously told Fortune she aims to reposition the app as a self-love platform, which helps its users take care of themselves before building connections with others.
Bumble also announced the hires of Eventbrite's Vivek Sagi as chief technology officer and Deirdre Runnette, who came from the warehouse infrastructure tech company Flexe, as chief legal officer.
“These leadership additions represent an exciting next step as we continue to build a world-class team committed to delivering against our bold vision for 2025,” Wolfe Herd said in a statement. “Julie, Deirdre, and Vivek each bring exceptional experience, leadership, and passion to their respective functions, and I’m thrilled to welcome them to the Bumble Hive.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
