LivePerson, Inc. announced that John Collins, the company's Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed to the additional role of interim Chief Executive Officer. In connection with the appointment, Robert LoCascio has stepped down as CEO and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective August 7, 2023. He will continue as a Special Advisor to the company through December 31, 2023.

The Board has been working with a nationally recognized executive search firm to identify LivePerson's next CEO and intends to effect a smooth and orderly transition. John Collins, 41, has served as CFO of LivePerson since 2020, overseeing the Company's finance organization. As CFO, Collins has played a critical role in driving LivePerson's corporate strategy and business development efforts, including successfully executing M&A, divestiture, and capital markets transactions.

Collins previously led the development of automations and machine learning to support strategic decision-making and predictive analytics as LivePerson's Senior Vice President of Quantitative Strategy. Prior to joining LivePerson in 2019, Collins pioneered approaches for transforming third-party data exhaust into investment signals as Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Thasos, a cloud-based artificial intelligence platform. Collins also served as portfolio manager for a systematic equities strategy at an NYC-based hedge fund.

Collins's previous financial services experience includes executing leverage finance transactions at Credit Suisse and building automated equity surveillance systems to detect suspicious trading activity at the New York Stock Exchange. Collins holds an MBA from MIT'sSloan School of Management, a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a BS from the University of Central Florida.