Chang to lead company’s next stage of growth
NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Andela Inc., one of the largest private marketplaces for technical talent, has announced that Carrol Chang has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and will join the company’s Board of Directors, effective September 17, 2024. Chang joins Andela from Uber, where she served as the Global Head of Driver and Courier Operations. Chang succeeds Jeremy Johnson, Andela’s co-founder, who is stepping down as CEO and will remain on the Andela Board.
Over the past decade, Andela has grown from an innovative African start-up to the first talent marketplace to become a unicorn. Chang brings with her a demonstrated history of successfully scaling a marketplace business through hypergrowth into a mature public company.
“I am deeply grateful for the privilege to lead Andela. It’s rare to find a mission-driven company that also has the potential to create a category-defining business. I’m inspired by the way Jeremy has led Andela to this point, and I appreciate the trust he and the Board now put in me to carry forward its mission,” said Chang. “The global talent market is an $8.5 trillion-dollar opportunity, and Andela has a decade of experience connecting brilliant talent with opportunity on a global scale. I look forward to writing the next great chapter with the Andela team.”
At Uber, Chang was tapped to lead efforts to grow its driver base, one of the company’s top priorities post-Covid. Those efforts grew the marketplace of flexible workers to nearly 7 million people in over 70 countries, powering the company’s $130B ridesharing and delivery businesses. In addition to her expertise scaling tech-enabled marketplaces, she brings leadership experience from McKinsey & Company, the Department of Homeland Security, and global organizations working in education and economic development.
“After ten years, I’m deeply proud of the change we’ve helped to catalyze. That said, it’s clear that global hiring is at the beginning of a complete digital transformation, and Carrol is the perfect leader both for Andela’s next stage of growth and to help usher in the era of talent marketplaces,” said Johnson. “Carrol is a strategic leader and culture builder who has lived the Andela mission of connecting brilliance with opportunity. Her operational expertise and track record of leveraging technology to radically improve the user experience of multi-sided marketplaces will be instrumental in realizing Andela’s potential and helping us become the most trusted talent marketplace in the world. That said, Andela is part of my soul, and I’m excited to support Carrol as a member of our board of directors.”
“Andela exists because of the vision and determination of Jeremy Johnson. Jeremy has grown Andela from a revolutionary idea to one of the most impactful and highly regarded start-ups in the world. The board and all Andelans are deeply grateful to him and respect his decision to bring in a leader with deep marketplace experience to drive the next phase of growth,” said Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia and Chair of the Andela Board of Directors. “Andela is a deeply purpose-driven organization and Carrol is a unique leader poised to take the company into the future.”
Founded in 2014, Andela has trained more than 110,000 technologists in Africa. The company has created thousands of jobs and helped talented individuals from over 135 countries build world class careers, regardless of where they are from.
