Blake Irving was born on August 8, 1959, to James Scott Irving and Patricia Ann Irving in Ohio. Irving's father was in the FBI and consequently moved the family around the country. Irving lived with his brother, Scott, and his sisters, Lisa and Lori. Irving played the drums from the age of seven, and was an artist while attending the Newbury Park High School in Southern California. Irving is a graduate of San Diego State University and received an MBA degree from Pepperdine University. He has served as a professor at Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management, and has been named a distinguished alumnus.
Irving began working at Xerox in 1981, where he provided Greek fonts for electronic typesetting. He eventually became a manager at the company's Font Support Center. Irving worked at PARC during the development of WYSIWYG technology, Irving also worked at Oki Electric Company and Compaq computer.
Microsoft
Irving was a product manager for Microsoft's telecommunications business unit in 1994, and a group manager the Personal Systems Division in 1995. In 1996, he was the group manager for the Internet Platform and Tools Division, and he would later be named Corporate Vice President. As head of the Windows Live Platform, Irving managed a $1 billion global R&D budget and oversaw development teams in the US, India, China and Europe. Irving was also Corporate Vice President of MSN Communication Services and Merchant Platforms. Irving was also a Member of Platform Group of MessageCast Inc. and was involved in overseeing other Microsoft products including NetMeeting, Outlook Express, MSN Messenger, Hotmail, Xbox Live, and other Microsoft applications.
Irving became Chief Executive Officer of GoDaddy in January 2013. Under Irving, the company stopped airing sexually provocative commercials it had become known for, which had fed the company's reputation for sexism. Other changes by Irving including hiring Elissa Murphy as Chief Technical Officer. Irving said he would retire from the company at the end of 2017. In August 2019, Irving announced that he was leaving the company. He cited health reasons for the decision, though his departure came after the company unexpectedly reported a net loss of $12.6m for the second quarter.
