Sarah Friar
{{Short description|Irish-American business executive}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox person
| image = Sarah Friar MoneyConf 2018.jpg
| image_caption = Friar in 2018
| birth_name = Sarah Jane Friar
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|OBE|size=100%}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1972|12|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Sion Mills, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
| nationality = American, British, Irish
| education = {{ubl|St Anne's College, Oxford (MEng)|Stanford University (MBA)}}
| occupation = Business executive
| known_for = {{ubl|CFO of OpenAI|Former CEO of Nextdoor|Former CFO of Square, Inc.}}
| children = 2
}}
Sarah Jane Friar {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (born 24 December 1972{{cite news |last=Nimmo |first=Jamie |date=23 January 2022 |title=Nextdoor chief Sarah Friar: I grew up with bombs, so I don't want to spread hate |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/nextdoor-sarah-friar-interview-covid-lockdown-northern-ireland-lncqhj0hh |newspaper=The Sunday Times |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220123044335/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nextdoor-sarah-friar-interview-covid-lockdown-northern-ireland-lncqhj0hh |archive-date=23 January 2022 |url-status=live}}) is an Irish-American business executive who is the chief financial officer of OpenAI since June 2024.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-hires-sarah-friar-cfo-2024-06-10/ |title=OpenAI hires former Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar as first CFO |date=10 June 2024 |publisher=Reuters}} She was the chief executive officer of American technology company Nextdoor from 2018 through 2024,{{Cite web |date=2024-02-23 |title=Nextdoor Announces Leadership Transition and Reports Preliminary Q4 2023 Financial Results |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nextdoor-announces-leadership-transition-reports-110000515.html |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}} and was chief financial officer of Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) between 2012 and 2018.{{Cite news|last=Gelles|first=David|date=2020-08-13|title=A Lifetime of Seeing the Good and the Bad Between Neighbors|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/business/sarah-friar-nextdoor-corner-office.html|access-date=2021-07-06|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Rudegeair|first=Peter|date=2021-02-27|title=Where Nextdoor's CEO Looks for Neighborly Advice|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-nextdoors-ceo-looks-for-neighborly-advice-11614402041|access-date=2021-07-06|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite web|title=Nextdoor's CEO wants to do for community what Jane Fonda did for fitness|url=https://fortune.com/2020/09/30/nextdoor-ceo-sarah-friar-mpw-summit/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Fortune|language=en}}
Early life
Born in 1972, Friar grew up in the town of Sion Mills in Northern Ireland.{{Cite web|title=Tyrone's Sarah Friar leads US Nextdoor into €3.6bn Spac deal|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/tyrones-sarah-friar-leads-usnextdoor-into-36bn-spac-deal-40621373.html|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Irish Independent|date=6 July 2021 |language=en}} She attended Strabane Grammar School.{{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=John |date=5 June 2017 |title=Sarah Friar: From Sion Mills to Silicon Valley |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-40138430 |work=BBC News}} Friar won a scholarship from the accounting firm Arthur Andersen after entering a competition; she then worked there for a year before pursuing engineering studies at University of Oxford.{{Cite web |last=Weckler |first=Adrian |date=9 November 2016 |title=Hip to be Square: meet the most important Irish tech boss you've never heard of |url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/hip-to-be-square-meet-the-most-important-irish-tech-boss-youve-never-heard-of/35202774.html |work=Irish Independent}} She studied metallurgy, economics, and management at Oxford, and then completed an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she was an Arjay Miller scholar.{{Cite web|title=Sarah Friar|url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/life-community/alumni/voices/sarah-friar|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Stanford Graduate School of Business|language=en}} Friar interned at Ashanti Goldfields in 1990s, during which she was assigned to work at a gold mine in Ghana.{{Cite news |last=Fortson |first=Danny |date=8 July 2018 |title=I took a one-way ticket to the Valley, says Square’s Sarah Friar |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/technology/article/i-took-a-one-way-ticket-to-the-valley-says-squares-sarah-friar-f63jfml0q |work=The Sunday Times}}
Career
She was an analyst for McKinsey in South Africa,{{Cite news|title=Sarah Friar, the neighbour-in-chief steering Nextdoor to public markets|url=https://www.ft.com/content/b0ead0ac-e677-4782-8957-a126bd44d515|access-date=2021-07-24|newspaper=Financial Times|date=9 July 2021 }} a managing director in equity research at Goldman Sachs, and a senior vice president of finance and strategy at Salesforce before becoming chief financial officer (CFO) at Square in 2012,{{Cite news |last=Wang |first=Selina |date=10 October 2018 |title=Square CFO Sarah Friar steps down to join Nextdoor as CEO |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Square-CFO-Sarah-Friar-steps-down-to-join-13297306.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}{{Cite web|title=Sarah Friar|url=https://corporate.walmart.com/leadership/sarah-friar|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Corporate - US|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Sarah Friar|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/sarah-friar/|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Forbes|language=en}} and then joining Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods, as the CEO in 2018. She led the company public through a special-purpose acquisition company in 2021.{{Cite magazine |last=Lublin |first=Joann S. |date=4 September 2022 |title=Nextdoor's CEO Sarah Friar Is Opening Doors for Smaller Businesses |url=https://time.com/6210774/nextdoor-ceo-sarah-friar-interview/ |magazine=Time}} Nextdoor announced Friar would step down as CEO in mid-2024.{{Cite news |last=Savitz |first=Eric J. |date=23 February 2024 |title=Nextdoor Jumps as CEO Exits and Founder Takes Over. It's Buying Back More Stock. |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/nextdoor-stock-ceo-exits-82118881 |work=Barron's |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240224023818/https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/nextdoor-stock-ceo-exits-82118881 |archive-date=24 February 2024 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}} In June 2024, she joined OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research organization that develops ChatGPT, as its first CFO.
She is on the board of Walmart and ConsenSys,{{Cite web|title=Sarah Friar|url=https://corporate.walmart.com/leadership/sarah-friar|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Corporate - US|language=en-US}}{{cite web |url=https://fortune.com/2022/04/08/black-women-attorneyssupreme-court-judge-ketanji-brown-jacksons-confirmation-representation/ |title=The Broadsheet: a daily newsletter for and about the world's most powerful women |date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408140848/https://fortune.com/2022/04/08/black-women-attorneyssupreme-court-judge-ketanji-brown-jacksons-confirmation-representation/ |archive-date=8 April 2022 |url-status=live |work=Fortune |last1=Hinchliffe |first1=Emma |last2=Mcglauflin |first2=Paige}} and previously on Slack Technologies and New Relic's boards.{{Cite web |last=Swisher |first=Kara |author-link=Kara Swisher |date=15 March 2017 |title=Slack is adding Square CFO Sarah Friar as its first independent board member |url=https://www.vox.com/2017/3/15/14932828/slack-square-cfo-sarah-friar-board |website=Vox}} She also co-chairs Stanford's Digital Economy Lab and runs Ladies Who Launch, a non-profit focused on female entrepreneurs that she co-founded.{{Cite news |last=Savitz |first=Eric J. |date=10 June 2024 |title=OpenAI Names a CFO. It's Likely To Spur Speculation About a Potential IPO. |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/openai-chatgpt-cfo-ipo-c36fa2ff |work=Barron's}}{{Cite news |last1=Murphy |first1=Hannah |last2=Waters |first2=Richard |date=17 April 2020 |title=Sarah Friar, Nextdoor's 'chief neighbour' extends her watch |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6ec33962-8093-11ea-82f6-150830b3b99a |work=Financial Times}}
She received a honorary Doctor of Science degree from Ulster University in 2018.{{Cite news |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/ulster-university-graduations-results-honour-for-silicon-valley-boss-sarah-friar/37097053.html |title=Ulster University graduations results: Honour for Silicon Valley boss Sarah Friar |date=9 July 2018 |work=Belfast Telegraph}} In 2019, she was granted an Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II for her commitment to entrepreneurship and financial services.{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=David |date=23 June 2019 |title=Queen's birthday honours list 2019: full list of everyone being recognised this year |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/queen-birthday-honours-list-2019-full-mbe-obe-cbe-knighthood-damehood-everyone-299772 |work=i}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.strabaneweekly.co.uk/news/2019/06/21/gallery/sion-mills-native-awarded-an-obe-in-queen-s-birthday-honours-5041/ |title=Sion Mills native awarded an OBE in Queen's Birthday Honours |date=21 June 2019 |work=Strabane Weekly News}}
Personal life
Friar is married to David Riley, a former hedge fund partner.{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=James |date=13 May 2019 |title=From Sion Mills to Silicon Valley: How Sarah Friar became one of the most prominent women in technology |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/05/13/village-northern-ireland-top-silicon-valley-sarah-friar-became/ |work=The Daily Telegraph}} The couple has a daughter and son.{{Cite news |last=Canning |first=Margaret |date=28 February 2020 |title=Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar: My business has taken off in Northern Ireland as people here are so neighbourly |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/technology/nextdoor-ceo-sarah-friar-my-business-has-taken-off-in-northern-ireland-as-people-here-are-so-neighbourly/39000823.html |work=Belfast Telegraph}} She lives in Marin County, California.
References
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Category:American business executives
Category:People from County Tyrone
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:McKinsey & Company people