Enterprise

Almost half of DocuSign's board departs just months after IPO

Key Points
  • The former DocuSign CEO will leave the board at the end of the year.
  • DocuSign went public in April and the stock has since gained 79 percent.
DocuSign founder Tom Gonser (left) and Keith Krach, chairman and CEO
Source: DocuSign

Three months after its stock market debut, electronic signature company DocuSign is losing almost half its board of directors, including its founder and chairman.

DocuSign said on Wednesday that five of its 12 directors are resigning and that three new people will be joining the board.

Tom Gonser, who founded DocuSign in 2003, is leaving, as is Keith Krach, the chairman and former CEO, who joined in 2009. The other departing directors are investors: Scott Darling of Dell Technologies Capital, Rory O’Driscoll of Scale Venture Partners and Jonathan Roberts of Ignition Partners.

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"Each indicated that their decision to resign was not a result of any disagreement with us on any matter relating to our operations, policies or practices," DocuSign said in the filing. In a statement, the company characterized the changes as a "planned transition."

The board has appointed former GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, Docker CEO and IBM executive Inhi Cho Suh as directors. Those three will join the board when the investors leave, while Krach and Gonser will depart at the end of the year.

Krach had been CEO until last year, when he was replaced by Dan Springer.

DocuSign, which competes with Adobe, went public in April at $29 a share and has since surged 79 percent to close at $51.98 on Wednesday. The stock was little changed after hours after falling slightly when the news was announced.

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