After 13 years at the helm of 1Password, Jeff Shiner has moved from co-CEO to executive chair of the Toronto-based password management company’s board of directors.
David Faugno, who became co-CEO of 1Password alongside Shiner last November, will continue to lead the firm going forward as its sole CEO. Faugno has also joined the board. These changes are effective immediately.
A 1Password spokesperson said Shiner initiated the move “to support the company’s next chapter of growth.”
While Shiner has stepped back from day-to-day leadership responsibilities, a 1Password spokesperson told BetaKit he will remain closely involved with the company going forward by focusing on long-term strategy, product innovation, and artificial intelligence (AI), including “defining the future of security” and “how the introduction of AI and agentic workflows changes security requirements.”
The spokesperson said this decision was made collaboratively by Shiner, Faugno, and the company’s board, adding that Shiner “initiated the transition plan as part of a long-term leadership strategy to support the company’s next chapter of growth.” In a LinkedIn post announcing the transition, Shiner wrote that this move has been in motion for over a year.
“It’s hard to put into words what a privilege it’s been to help lead 1Password through so many chapters—from our early days as a Mac app to becoming an Extended Access Management platform that secures the identities, apps, and devices of the modern workplace,” Shiner wrote.
Shiner and Faugno have now known and worked together for six years at 1Password through Faugno’s work as an advisor to his time as co-CEO. “He brings that rare mix of operational rigour, strategic clarity, and a deep belief in what we’re building,” Shiner wrote, calling Faugno “the right leader for where we’re going next.”
The 1Password spokesperson argued that Faugno’s experience scaling successful security and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies makes him “uniquely positioned to help 1Password capture this multi-billion dollar opportunity ahead, from securing the rise of AI agents to expanding global enterprise adoption.”
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“Having the opportunity to work beside, learn from, and ultimately succeed a living legend in Jeff Shiner has been the most precious gift,” Faugno wrote in a LinkedIn post of his own. “I am honored to carry the mantle forward for this incredible company, and lead this amazing team.”
Founded in 2005 and formally known as AgileBits, 1Password is one of Canada’s most valuable tech companies. 1Password sells identity security and access management software that helps individuals and corporate clients like Aldo Group, Associated Press, Canva, IBM, Intercom, Salesforce, and Under Armour secure sign-ins to applications and websites.
During his time as CEO, Shiner oversaw 1Password’s evolution from a consumer-facing password manager to a broader digital security platform for businesses, helping 1Password scale from a small team to a profitable, 1,400-person business with more than $250 million USD in annual recurring revenue that serves millions of consumers and over 165,000 companies.
To fuel its growth, 1Password has raised $920 million USD in total funding to date from a group that includes Accel, Iconiq Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Tiger Global, among others, most recently closing a $620-million Series C round at a $6.8-billion valuation in 2022. It has also made four acquisitions, most recently buying the UK SaaS startup Trelica in January.
RELATED: 1Password alters leadership with David Faugno appointed co-CEO alongside Jeff Shiner
In an interview with BetaKit last month, Shiner shared some more insight into how the AI era has impacted 1Password. He acknowledged that boards have been putting a lot of pressure on companies to quickly adopt AI, “almost an unreasonable amount … because it’s usually followed up by ‘we don’t know what you’re gonna do with it, just use it.’”
At the moment, Shiner said he thinks AI is particularly good at tackling “simpler sub-tasks,” and argued that it is imperative for companies and individuals to learn to leverage it right now so it does not “sneak past” them as the tech advances.
As BetaKit has reported, many businesses have struggled to move their AI proofs-of-concept into production due to a lack of return on investment as well as challenges in cost, governance, data security, and privacy. “We’re still at a point where the value isn’t tremendously greater than the effort … I think we’re starting to hit that peak though,” Shiner said.
He said 1Password has been testing the use of AI in a variety of areas across its team, from developers leveraging coding assistants to customer support workers researching and drafting responses to client queries. As for full deployment, he said the company’s marketing department is “the furthest ahead” so far.
Shiner nonetheless noted that the “the security guardrails haven’t caught up yet with the hype” amid the rise of agentic AI, a topic that BetaKit also recently discussed with Tailscale co-founder and CEO Avery Pennarun, and this is a barrier 1Password has focused on addressing.
Following the addition of Faugno and recent departures of 1Password co-founders Roustem Karimov and Dave Teare, the company’s board now consists of Shiner, Faugno, Accel partner Arun Matthew, co-founder Sara Teare, Iconiq partner Will Griffith, and Cloudflare president of revenue Mark Anderson. The 1Password spokesperson said Karimov and Dave Teare completed their board service but remain actively connected to the firm as trusted advisors.
Faugno—who has helped take other companies public before—told The Globe and Mail in March that 1Password was on track for an initial public offering. However, he noted that it is unlikely 1Password takes the plunge before 2026.
When asked whether or not that was still the case, the 1Password spokesperson said there were “no explicit plans” but that a public offering was “likely in our future.”
“Our focus remains on building a strong, enduring business,” the spokesperson added. “We’re scaling our Extended Access Management platform and accelerating enterprise growth, all while operating from a position of financial strength as a cash-flow-positive and well-capitalized company.”
Feature image courtesy 1Password.