Pandora's longtime VP to step down
Jessica Steel spent eight years working on business development and strategic partnerships for the Internet radio giant. Now, she's passing the torch.
One of the top female executives in Silicon Valley is stepping down.
Jessica Steel, Pandora's executive vice president of Business and Corporate Development, is wrapping up her nearly eight-year tenure at the company, according to tech news site The Next Web.
Steel's role at the Internet radio giant was to lead the company's business development and work on strategic partnerships with device manufacturers, car companies, and more.
"The car is one of the most popular venues for radio listening and incorporating Pandora into the native environment of automobile dashboards makes listening to personalized Internet radio as easy and natural as listening to traditional radio," Steel said in a statement during CES in January.
According to The Next Web, Steel is retiring from Pandora to spend more time with her two-year-old son before he starts school. Over the next couple of months, Steel will work with Pandora Chief Marketing Officer Simon Fleming Wood to ensure a smooth transition with her departure.
"With most of the key partnerships now in place, much of the focus is now on working with our partners to market these Pandora integrations," Pandora's Vice President of Corporate Communications Deborah Roth told The Next Web while mentioning that Steel has built a "capable team" to work with Wood.
This news comes on the same day that Pandora boasted a fourth-quarter revenue high of $81.3 million with 71 percent year-over-year growth. It also reached a record of 47 million active users last year. However, despite these soaring numbers, the company's shares did not do as well last year and at one point plummeted by 13 percent.