Bill Ready is the CEO of Pinterest and serves on its board of directors. His mission is clear: to prove that a more positive, purposeful internet isn’t just possible – it’s better for users and for business. Under Bill’s leadership, Pinterest has set out to be an industry leader on responsible use of AI, focusing on safety and emotional wellbeing for users, especially for Gen Z.
Since joining Pinterest in 2022, Bill has led a major business transformation – propelling the company to record user growth, rapidly increasing Gen Z engagement, achieving its strongest advertiser performance to date, and deepening its commitment to safety and emotional wellbeing.
His leadership has driven industry-leading safety initiatives: Pinterest became the first major platform to switch all under-16 accounts from public to private, the first and only tech company to support phone-free schools, and one of the first to call for OS-level age verification. Pinterest also introduced an in-app prompt that encourages teens to close the app and silence notifications during school hours, further supporting healthy tech habits.
A serial entrepreneur, Bill has spent decades building and scaling some of the world’s most impactful technology platforms. Most recently, he served as President of Commerce, Payments, and Next Billion Users at Google and, before that, as COO of PayPal, where he led efforts across both companies to make online buying easier and more inclusive – shaping products now woven into daily life for billions of users. Earlier, Bill served simultaneously as CEO of both Braintree and Venmo, leading both companies from their very early days through rapid expansion and their eventual acquisition by PayPal. Before that, as President of iPay Technologies, he drove growth and innovation in digital payments.
Bill also sits on the boards of Visa and Williams-Sonoma. A first-generation college graduate from rural Kentucky, Bill credits much of his leadership approach to early mentors and a belief in purpose-driven business. Today, he continues to champion teams with a broad range of backgrounds and bold thinking, aiming to make Pinterest the most inspiring – and trusted – place on the internet.