Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes, pictured in Toronto in 2019, was named interim CEO on Monday.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Hootsuite Inc. has replaced chief executive officer Irina Novoselsky with founder Ryan Holmes.
Mr. Holmes said in a LinkedIn post Monday he is “thrilled to be back” on an interim basis to lead the company he started in 2008 and led until mid-2020. “I see a company with real momentum and a strong foundation to build on,” he wrote. “We’re at an important moment, not just as a company, but as a category, an industry and as a society. AI is changing how we organize and communicate. That’s the opportunity in front of us.”
In a separate LinkedIn post, Ms. Novoselsky, who joined in early 2023, wrote that Monday was her last day at CEO, adding she was “excited” to see Mr. Holmes, who had remained a director since he had left the executive suite, return to the role.
Ms. Novoselsky, who is based in the New York area, wrote that on her watch, Hootsuite had returned to profitability, built a new capacity to pursue strong growth from enterprise customers and had “made a defining bet on the future” by buying Talkwalker. That Luxembourg-based “social listening” company, purchased in 2024, makes technology that combs through social-media platforms and online posts for mentions of customers, then analyzes the material for positive or negative sentiment and emotional tone.
Hootsuite was engulfed in controversy earlier this year because of its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which sparked protests at its Vancouver headquarters.
The Globe and Mail reported in January that the company had secured a US$95,000 pilot project with ICE in September, 2025, and that it was seeking more business with the agency. The project stemmed from existing work with Customs and Border Protection. Both agencies fall under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and have been charged with carrying out U.S. President Donald Trump’s widespread efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.
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In 2020, employee backlash forced Hootsuite to cancel a contract to provide social-media management services to ICE.
Ms. Novoselsky defended Hootsuite’s work with ICE during her tenure. “We did nothing wrong here,” she said on an internal employee call earlier this year. “We do business with a lot of polarizing non-profits and other organizations, and as long as these enterprises follow our terms of service, that’s our line.”
Government contractor Seneca Strategic Partners LLC in New York has a contract with DHS to use Hootsuite for social-media management, according to public records. The contract has a potential value of US$2.8-million by 2029.
The Talkwalker acquisition was at the centre of Hootsuite’s plans to expand its U.S. government business. One e-mail sent internally by a Hootsuite sales employee in September, 2025, described the project with ICE as a “Trojan Horse Deal” that could turn into a seven-figure contract. The author mentioned travelling to Washington with “Irina” to “brief ICE on how Hootsuite and Talkwalker can support their mission.”
Part of Seneca’s contract includes the ability to add use of Talkwalker to its DHS business.
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Mr. Holmes was one of the most prominent Canadian entrepreneurs during the renaissance of the Canadian tech scene in the 2010s. The long-time entrepreneur, who had previously founded a pizza joint and paintball business, spun Hootsuite out of his internet services and marketing consulting company, Invoke Media.
Invoke had developed Hootsuite as a tool to help its corporate customers manage their multiple social-media accounts as new platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, rapidly transformed and complicated the way companies communicated with their customers.
By late 2011, Hootsuite was generating $1-million in monthly revenue. It raised about $250-million in venture capital financing through 2014, from big names such as U.S. venture funds Accel and Insight Venture Partners, Boston-based Fidelity Investments Inc. and OMERS Ventures, and it became one of the largest private technology companies in Canada.
But the company was beset by a string of high-level departures and repeatedly missed quarterly sales targets. By early 2019, Hootsuite had abandoned a sale process after preliminary offers came in well below expectations over concerns prospective buyers had with its revenue growth and low profitability.
Months later, Mr. Holmes agreed to step down as CEO, departing when Tom Keiser replaced him in July, 2020. During Mr. Keiser’s tenure, the company cut staff and again explored going public in 2021, before technology valuations plummeted.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct one instance of the spelling of Ryan Holmes.