Envato appoints Hichame Assi as new CEO

Former HotelsCombined.com CEO Hichame Assi has been named the new Envato CEO. 

A graduate of Aleppo University and with a Masters from the University of London majoring in eCommerce, Hichame has spent 20 years working at the forefront of the digital revolution of the travel industry. His ten years at HotelsCombined included two years as head of international strategy, four years as COO and four as CEO, where he was also Managing Director of Kayak APAC. 

“I’m very excited to welcome Hichame to Envato,” said outgoing CEO and Chair of Envato, Collis Ta’eed. “He has an almost founder-like experience of scaling tech businesses of our size and in fact, it turns out he’s been a customer of ours for a number of years!” 

Collis said the search for a new CEO took almost a year, and while there was an Australian focus the company looked globally to fill the role. “We were looking for someone who is a digital native, customer-oriented, someone who could lead in a way that’s respectful of our values and purpose as a business but also help us evolve for the next phase of our journey.”

“Hichame stood out for his excellent values-alignment, and as someone who also brings with them a globally-minded perspective with experience leading businesses of our scale and complexity.”

“I’ve been working towards this day for some years, and while there will be many things I miss as being CEO, now is the perfect time to step back and let Hichame guide us,” concluded Collis. 

Hichame said he was looking forward to leading Envato. “I’m very excited to be leading such a values and purpose-driven team. Envato stood out to me for its’ inspiring people and community-centric approach and I’m hoping to uphold that legacy while helping to scale it globally in this next phase.” 

Collis will remain as CEO during a handover phase and will conclude his tenure in the top job at the end of October.