Who Is Brian Halligan? HubSpot’s Co-Founder Is CEO Again

The board appointed him president and CEO on November 12, replacing Yamini Rangan. He called the return a “refounding.”

Nov 12, 2026

Updated November 12, 2026 (ET).

Brian Halligan in 2011, in a HubSpot headshot. Photo: HubSpot, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Brian Halligan co-founded HubSpot in 2005 and ran it for 16 years, through its initial public offering and past a market value of more than $30 billion. On November 12, 2026, the company announced that its board had appointed him president and chief executive officer again, effective immediately, replacing Yamini Rangan.

A Form 8-K filed that day says Rangan stepped down as president and CEO and resigned from the board on November 12, and that she will remain an employee through December 1, 2026, to help with the transition. Halligan, age 59, has been a director since the company’s founding. He previously served as CEO from 2005 until September 2021, and as executive chairperson from September 2021 to May 2025. The filing says the company has not yet finalized his pay in the new role.

In HubSpot’s November 12 news release, Halligan framed the return as a “refounding.” “Chapter one was creating the inbound marketing category and building a killer app that thousands enjoyed. Chapter two was building an easy and powerful CRM platform that hundreds of thousands use every day. Chapter three is building the customer relationship harness that will enable millions to grow better. This is a refounding, and I can’t wait to start!” He also said he was “grateful for everything Yamini has done for HubSpot,” and that she “took the company to a new scale, and built a strong leadership team.”

Rangan, who became CEO in September 2021, said it had been “a privilege to lead and scale HubSpot” and that Halligan “knows this company better than anyone.” Lorrie Norrington, the board’s chairperson, said “the Board is united in its support of his refounding of the company.” Under Rangan, the release says, HubSpot grew from 135,000 customers to more than 311,000, and from $1.3 billion in revenue in 2021 to an expected $3.7 billion in 2026.

The same announcement covered a second leadership change. Kate Bueker, the chief financial officer, will retire effective February 11, 2027, in what the company called a long-planned move. Karen Burgess, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Adobe’s Creativity & Productivity business unit, will join HubSpot on November 30, 2026, as executive vice president, finance, and succeed Bueker as CFO on February 11. Bueker will then serve as an advisor through December 31, 2027.

The stock rose on the news. Yahoo Finance showed HubSpot trading at $217.54, up $14.66, or 7.23%, as of 11:57 a.m. ET Thursday, after a previous close of $202.88. HubSpot also reaffirmed the fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 financial guidance it issued on November 4.

Brian Halligan: Quick facts

Full name: Brian Halligan, according to HubSpot’s November 12, 2026 Form 8-K.
Age: 59, according to that filing.
Known for: Co-founder of HubSpot; chief executive from 2005 until September 2021; appointed president and CEO again on November 12, 2026, to lead what he called a “refounding.”
Education: A bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, according to HubSpot’s official biography.
Earlier career: Vice president of sales at PTC Inc., and earlier an employee who, the company biography says, spent more than a decade there and built its Pacific Rim operation out of Hong Kong and Tokyo; then vice president of sales at Groove Networks, which was later acquired by Microsoft.
Other roles: A senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to HubSpot’s 2026 proxy; a senior advisor to Sequoia Capital since May 2024; co-founder, in October 2022, of Propeller Ventures, a climate-focused venture firm.
Latest news: Appointed HubSpot’s president and CEO on November 12, 2026, replacing Yamini Rangan.

How did Brian Halligan build HubSpot?

Halligan began his career at Parametric Technology Corporation, now PTC. HubSpot’s November 12, 2026 Form 8-K identifies his role there as vice president of sales. The company’s official biography says he was an early employee, spent more than a decade at the firm, and was “tapped to establish and build PTC’s Pacific Rim operation out of Hong Kong and Tokyo, growing it to $100 million in revenue.” He later became vice president of sales at Groove Networks, which, the biography says, Microsoft acquired in 2005 and which became part of Microsoft SharePoint Workspace.

He earned an MBA from MIT Sloan, where, the official biography says, he later developed the school’s Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures class and has taught for more than a decade. In 2023, the biography says, MIT Sloan awarded him the Monosson Prize for mentorship in entrepreneurship. HubSpot’s November 12 release says he co-founded the company in 2005 with Dharmesh Shah, now its chief technology officer. The official biography says Halligan coined the term “inbound marketing” and, with Shah, co-authored the book Inbound Marketing; he later co-authored Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead.

HubSpot’s common shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 9, 2014, under the ticker HUBS, at an offering price of $25 a share. The November 12, 2026 release says Halligan led the company from its founding through that IPO “to a market cap of over $30B in 2021.”

Why did Brian Halligan step aside in 2021?

In February 2021, while he was still CEO, Halligan was badly injured in a snowmobile accident near Woodstock, Vermont. Speaking at HubSpot’s Inbound conference in September 2022, he told the audience he had missed a turn, hit a tree, and broken 13 bones, the Boston Globe reported. He said he required five surgeries, spent months in a wheelchair, and thought he was going to die that day. “It was kind of a reset button I needed in my life,” he said, according to the Globe.

A company announcement furnished with an August 4, 2021 Form 8-K said that, effective September 7, 2021, Halligan would step down as CEO and president and become executive chairman, and that Rangan, then chief customer officer, would become CEO and president. In that announcement, Halligan said Rangan had “led the company with clarity, empathy, and exceptional results” while he “was out,” and that he had been CEO for 15 years and “now is the right time for me, and for HubSpot, to make this change.” The same post said Rangan had been overseeing day-to-day operations since March 2021. The November 12, 2026 filing uses the title executive chairperson for the role he held from September 2021 to May 2025.

On May 8, 2025, according to a Form 8-K, he resigned as executive chairperson and became a non-executive director. HubSpot’s 2026 proxy and its November 12, 2026 release identify Lorrie Norrington as the board’s chairperson.

Since leaving the CEO job, he has stayed close to the company as a director and taken on work outside it. The November 12, 2026 Form 8-K says he co-founded Propeller Ventures, “a climate-focused tech venture capital firm,” in October 2022, and has been a senior advisor to Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC, since May 2024. The official biography describes Propeller as a $100 million climate-tech fund focused on ocean innovation, and says he hosts a podcast, Long Strange Trip: CEO to CEO with Brian Halligan.

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Frequently asked questions about Brian Halligan

Why is Brian Halligan back as HubSpot’s CEO?

HubSpot’s board appointed him president and CEO on November 12, 2026, effective immediately, after Yamini Rangan stepped down. In the company’s announcement, Halligan called the move a “refounding” and said he would reimagine the company “from the ground up — across product, go-to-market, and culture.” The board’s chairperson, Lorrie Norrington, said the directors were united in support of that plan.

Who is Brian Halligan replacing?

Yamini Rangan, who had been chief executive and president since September 2021 and who also left the board on November 12, 2026. She will remain with the company through December 1 to help with the transition. During her tenure, HubSpot said, the company grew from 135,000 customers to more than 311,000, and from $1.3 billion in revenue in 2021 to an expected $3.7 billion in 2026.

How long was Brian Halligan CEO the first time?

From 2005, when he co-founded HubSpot with Dharmesh Shah, until September 2021, a tenure the company describes as 16 years. He remained a director throughout, served as executive chairperson from September 2021 to May 2025, and then continued as a non-executive director until his appointment as president and CEO on November 12, 2026.

What else did HubSpot announce with the CEO change?

Kate Bueker, the CFO, will retire effective February 11, 2027. Karen Burgess, who has led finance for Adobe’s Creativity & Productivity unit, will join on November 30, 2026, as executive vice president, finance, and become CFO on February 11. The company also reaffirmed the fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 guidance it issued on November 4.

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