Risher joined the Lyft board of directors in July 2021. According to the announcement, he will have full leadership responsibilities for the company’s operations. As the 37th employee of Amazon, said the announcement, Risher helped lead the company from an online bookstore with $15 million in annual sales to the “everything store” with over $4 billion in sales.
In their respective roles, Green and Zimmer “will focus on supporting a seamless transition of responsibilities” to Risher and the continued growth of Lyft’s mission. Sean Aggarwal, current Lyft board chair, will transition to the role of lead independent director.
Green said that “Building Lyft with John over the last 16 years has been the adventure of a lifetime.” Billions of rides later, he said, the industry is defined by the model of ridesharing that Lyft pioneered.
All founders, said Green, eventually find the right moment to step back and the right leaders to take their company forward. In a field of accomplished candidates, he said, Risher “stood head and shoulders above the rest.”
Zimmer said he and Green were told “we were crazy to think people would share a ride in another person’s car.” Over a decade later, he said, Lyft “is creating economic opportunity, building a sustainable future, and helping people make meaningful connections — with the support of millions of riders and drivers.”
And Risher said that when the search committee asked him to consider this role, “at first I was gobsmacked, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the competitive spirit I learned at Microsoft, the customer obsession I learned at Amazon, and the do-more-with-less lessons I learned leading Worldreader are exactly what Lyft needs right now.”
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