Bluesky Announces Leadership Changes

The decentralized microblogging platform Bluesky announced some leadership changes today, with CEO Jay Graber transitioning to a new Chief Innovation Officer role. Toni Schneider, former CEO of Automattic and partner at True Ventures, has been appointed as interim CEO as the company’s board continues looking for a permanent replacement.

In a blog post, Graber explained that her decision to step back was motivated by the need to return to “building new things” after Schneider worked as an advisor to her and the company for over a year. While Bluesky publicly launched in 2024, Graber had been working on the company’s decentralised AT Protocol since 2019, and Bluesky currently has over 40 million users.

“As we’ve grown, I’ve found that people thrive when they’re in a role where their passions overlap with their strengths. This is as true for me as it is for our team. I’m most energized by exploring new ideas, bringing a vision to life, and helping people discover their strengths. Transitioning to a more focused role where I can do what brings me energy is my way of putting that belief into practice,” Graber explained today.

In a separate blog post, Toni Schneider, the new interim CEO of Bluesky, said that her role will be to “help set up Bluesky’s next phase of growth.” She also pledged “not to change what’s working” and to continue to work with developers building apps on top of Bluesky’s decentralized system.

“The commitment to an open, user-controlled social web isn’t going anywhere,” Schneider said today. “You own your identity, your data, your graph. If anything, we’re doubling down.”