Thijs de Valk steps down as CEO of Yoast • Yoast

As of today, Thijs de Valk is no longer the CEO of Yoast. He decided to retire and pursue other dreams. Newfold Digital and Yoast will miss him and want to thank him for his time at Yoast and for all the great things he did.

Thijs’ career at Yoast

Thijs was one of the first Yoasters. He joined the company in 2012 as one of the first employees. He started as a support engineer, did SEO consulting, was active as a marketer, and later served as our Chief Commercial Officer.

In the last year and a half, Thijs was the CEO of Yoast. He successfully led the company through the first year after acquisition, in which Yoast had to adapt to the Newfold structure. Additionally, he kicked off the launch of the Yoast SEO for Shopify app, bringing a whole new CMS to our WordPress-minded company. And just a few weeks ago, he rocked the stage at WordCamp Asia.

Looking for a new business leader

With Thijs’ departure, Yoast will look for a new business leader. We hope to join forces with an excellent new business leader who can help us improve our product and our impact in both WordPress and SEO.

While searching for a new business leader, Yoast will be led by the current Executive Team consisting of Chaya Oosterbroek (COO), Marieke van de Rakt (CGO), and Derek Herman (CTO), as well as our Leadership Team consisting of Sam Alderson, Floortje Scheurwater, Jono Alderson & Taco Verdonschot. Additionally, we will be assisted by Jason Cross, who is SVP Product: Commerce, Presence and...