{"id":644424,"date":"2026-05-02T07:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/644424\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T07:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:16:14","slug":"canva-cto-to-step-down-after-12-years-amid-ai-push-ipo-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/644424\/","title":{"rendered":"Canva CTO to step down after 12 years amid AI push, IPO plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canva\u2019s long-time chief technology officer (CTO) Brendan Humphreys is stepping down after more than a decade, with the company shifting to a \u2018head of technology\u2019 role instead.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tArticle ID: 334886\n\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\"Canva\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Canva confirmed with SmartCompany that Humphreys\u2019 2IC, Simon Newton, will move into the role of \u2018head of technology\u2019, overseeing Canva\u2019s global technology organisation, rather than directly replacing the CTO position. Newton, who previously worked at Google and Uber, has led Canva\u2019s platform organisation.<\/p>\n

Humphreys joined Canva in 2014 when the company had just a dozen employees. He took to social media to announce he would step away after 12 years and take a break from the industry. He will continue as an adviser at Canva after wrapping up in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a long and pretty wild 28 years in this industry, and it\u2019s time for a real break,\u201d Humphreys wrote in a LinkedIn post.<\/p>\n

This change is understood to have been communicated internally to staff on Friday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBrendan has been an exceptional leader and a huge part of Canva\u2019s journey over the last 12 years, helping build and scale one of the world\u2019s leading technology organisations,\u201d a Canva spokesperson told SmartCompany. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u00a0has\u00a0played a key role in scaling Canva from a small team and an early idea into one of the most used products on the internet, while also building a world-class leadership team to take things forward. We\u2019re incredibly thankful for his many contributions over the last decade, and we wish him all the best for a very well-deserved break.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tArticle ID: 334415\n\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\"Canva\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The departure comes as Canva rolls out a major expansion of its AI capabilities. Earlier this month<\/a>, the company unveiled its AI 2.0 update, positioning the platform as a broader work environment rather than a design tool, with features spanning conversational creation, background task automation, and integrations across workplace software.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m leaving feeling very proud of the Technology Org that makes those dreams real. We\u2019ve built world-class systems and products at a speed most companies can only dream of,\u201d Humphreys said.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the company is working toward a long-awaited public listing. Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht recently told Capital Brief<\/a> the business is targeting an IPO in 2027, but only once its AI-driven business model has been fully established.<\/p>\n

That shift includes a move toward AI credits as a core pricing mechanism, alongside the company\u2019s existing subscription model.<\/p>\n

Humphreys also pointed to the company\u2019s position as it continues to evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an industry defined by relentless change, that culture has kept us ahead. We\u2019ve navigated every challenge, and we\u2019re in a strong position to keep doing that in the AI era.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canva\u2019s long-time chief technology officer (CTO) Brendan Humphreys is stepping down after more than a decade, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,8417,105],"class_list":["post-644424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canva","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}