Bruce Jaffe
Bruce Jaffe. (Donuts Photo)

Donuts, the Bellevue, Wash.-based domain registry, announced a change in leadership on Thursday with the appointment of Bruce Jaffe as chief executive officer.

Jaffe takes the reins from Paul Stahura, the company’s co-founder and current CEO, who will continue to serve in a full-time role as executive chair of Donuts’ board of directors, according to a news release.

The company, which controls extensions like .email, .photography, .life and more, also announced that John Pollard would be ascending to the newly created position of chief revenue officer.

Paul Stahura
Paul Stahura. Donuts Photo)

“Bruce has served on Donuts’ board of directors for over a year and, at my request, has steadily taken on new day-to-day duties,” Stahura said in a statement. “His deep operational experiences in the corporate environment, coupled with his enthusiasm for strategy and scaling high growth businesses make him an impeccable fit for Donuts.

“I initiated this transition so I can focus on innovations that will help Donuts expand and remain creative,” Stahura added. “I’m confident that Bruce will lead us to the next stage of growth.”

John Pollard
John Pollard. (Donuts Photo)

Stahura has been CEO since Donuts’ formation in 2010, the company said. Under his leadership, the company grew to manage 198 top-level domain names with more than 2 million registrations and over $100 million in bookings.

Jaffe has served on the Donuts board as well as several other public and private boards. He previously held a variety of executive positions at Microsoft, most recently leading its corporate development group, directing transactions and strategic initiatives.

Last July, Donuts made a public bid of $70 million for the domain registry of rival Rightside Group of Kirkland, Wash. Rightside rejected the unsolicited offer, saying it undervalued its assets.

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