Criteo’s product chief is leaving for a CEO job at a private company, and the retail media DSP is answering the exit with continuity rather than a splashy replacement.
Todd Parsons, Criteo’s Chief Product Officer and President of Performance Media, will transition into an advisory role from September 1 through September 30 before departing to become CEO of a private company Criteo has not named. Parsons had run product at Criteo for six years, most recently overseeing both its retail media and performance advertising segments after a July 2025 reorganization expanded his remit. In its own investor announcement, Criteo said only that a search for his successor is underway, and that Chief Technology Officer Diarmuid Gill will assume responsibility for the product organization in the interim, “supported by strong product leadership within each of our two business segments, providing clear accountability and continuity across the organization.” The company added that “our product strategy, roadmap and client commitments are unchanged.”
The timing is what makes this worth watching rather than filing away as routine executive churn. Criteo has spent the past two years repositioning itself as a retail media and commerce media platform as its legacy retargeting business shrinks, the same land grab that has pushed mall operators and device makers alike to stand up their own ad networks this month. Parsons was the executive most directly responsible for that pivot’s product roadmap. Handing the interim role to the CTO rather than promoting from within the product organization is a signal Criteo wants technical continuity on the platform itself while it looks externally for the next product strategist, not that the roadmap is in question. Whether that read holds depends on how long the search takes and who it lands on: a retail media specialist would confirm Criteo is staying the course, while an outside hire from a different category would suggest the company is rethinking the bet Parsons built.
Source: Criteo
