Doug McCallum, Senior Vice President and General Manager of eBay Marketplaces Europe, is moving to a new role as Senior Advisor to eBay Inc.’s President and CEO, John Donahoe.
Doug’s new role will be threefold – including Enterprise Partner Engagement, Senior Government Relations and Leadership Development. He will be working with the senior management of top retailers brokering deals for eBay’s three platforms – the eBay marketplace, GSI who eBay acquired early this year and already have some of the biggest brands in retail on their client list, and of course PayPal.
Government relations is something Doug is very keen to be involved in as he has a great interest in influencing policy. This is an important role and one which Doug believes he can really make a difference in. Whilst to me Governments both national and EU, are alien and impenetrable, this is an area Doug will enjoy and it’s one that affects every online (and offline) seller.
The third area Doug will be involved in is leadership development. Doug has already shown his skill at this in preparing Clare Gilmartin to take over when he moved from eBay UK MD to his European role. Devin Wenig who is just 6 days into his new role as President global eBay Marketplaces, and is on his 2nd day in the EU will be spoilt for choice to choose a replacement for Doug from within the eBay and PayPal management. Whilst it’s expected that Doug’s successor will be named in Q4 2011 (and in the meantime Doug will remain in his current role to assist with the transition), it’s not expected to take too long for an appointment to be announced.
I’ve known Doug for many years since I met him at the first ever eBay UK University in London. Whilst there’s often been many months, or even years, between contacts, Doug is one of the nicest and most gracious men I’ve ever had the privilege to know. Without a doubt he’s had a huge influence on my eBay career and with TameBay, maybe most of the time not directly, but it’s through his work in leading eBay that opportunities have been made available to myself and everyone else that trades on the site today.
Doug told me that he’s very grateful and pleased that eBay are enabling him to develop his career in the ways that he wanted to, in areas that are not only of interest to him but which also expand some of the most strategic and exciting parts of his existing role. He also said that he has every confidence in the team that he’s built to carry on the work of running eBay on a day to day basis for the future. Knowing Doug I can believe that, from the day he became Senior Vice President and General Manager of eBay Marketplaces Europe he would have been preparing his team to take over just as he did with eBay UK when he was MD there.
We wish Doug all the best for the future and my personal very good wishes and thanks for all his work over the last decade.
3 Responses
All best wishes to Doug and his family.
I worked with Doug for many years and whilst I may have often questioned his decisions, I never doubted his honesty and integrity. Doug welcomed dissent. I doubt the same can be said for many at his level in business.
The great news is that UK eBayers really do have a voice at the top table with many years experience. JD beware!
As I can attest, working at eBay UK is rather like the Hotel California. You can check out. But you can never leave.
DW
I met Doug at a seller conference – he was humble enough to be handing the badges out and greeting the sellers who attended. A very inspiring person to talk to and listen to.