Dive Brief:
- Dropbox has appointed Ross Tennenbaum, president of tax compliance software firm Avalara, to become its new CFO, effective Dec. 16, according to a Wednesday announcement.
- Tennenbaum will succeed Tim Regan who has decided to resign after more than five years as CFO and nine years with the company overall, the cloud-based file hosting service provider said in a securities filing and accompanying blog post.
- “Ross brings a strong combination of financial acumen, operational experience, and deep knowledge of the tech landscape, and I’m excited to partner with him as we navigate our next chapter,” Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said in a statement included in the filing.
Dive Insight:
Tennenbaum will take over as CFO of San Francisco, California-based Dropbox after it reported a slight sales decline last month.
The company posted $634.4 million in total revenues for its fiscal 2025 third quarter ended Sept. 30, a decrease of 0.7% compared with the year-earlier period. Its total number of paying users fell to 18.07 million from 18.24 million year over year.
The quarter's revenue decline was driven in part by the company’s scaled-back investment in FormSwift, a document workflow business acquired in 2022 for $95 million that is now winding down, according to Regan.
“We now expect FormSwift to serve as a roughly 130 basis point headwind to revenue this year,” the finance chief said during a Nov. 6 earnings call.
Priorities for the upcoming fiscal year include scaling Dash, an artificial intelligence-powered workspace search tool, he said.
Along with its CFO transition, the company on Wednesday also announced the appointment of Eric Webster, an operating partner at Boston-based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners, as its new chief business officer.
“These changes come as we deepen our focus on scaling Dropbox Dash and strengthening our core file storage and sync experience,” the company said in its blog post.
Tennenbaum, 47, will receive an annual base salary of $550,000 and a one-time cash signing bonus of $350,000 in his new role, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He brings more than two decades of experience as a finance and operations leader, including a nearly 10-year stint at Avalara. He previously served as Avalara’s CFO before becoming its president in 2024.
Before joining Avalara, Tennenbaum spent a decade advising technology companies in investment banking roles at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
Dropbox lauded Regan for being a “steady and trusted leader” since joining the company in 2016 as chief accounting officer.
“Throughout his time here, Tim helped guide Dropbox through our IPO, stepped into the CFO role in 2020, and strengthened our financial foundation while supporting our teams with humility, integrity and the best sense of humor,” the blog post said.
Regan’s resignation “reflects his intention to pursue the next chapter of his career and did not involve any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s strategy, financial reporting, operations, policies, or practices,” according to the filing.
