HubSpot Appoints Meta AI Chief Clara Shih to Board

Shih joined Meta last year and leads its Artificial Intelligence product team, which develops AI tools for businesses, such as its digital assistant called Business AI, which launched last month. She was previously CEO of Salesforce AI.

While some parts of the tech world are seeing a major boost from the AI ​​boom, HubSpot is in a corner of the market where investors are feeling the pinch due to concerns about AI's impact on future businesses. The company's stock is down 34% this year, while the Nasdaq has gained 22%, and analysts expect revenue growth to slow this year and again in 2026, according to LSEG.

Like other cloud software companies, HubSpot is trying to incorporate AI into its business and convince Wall Street that this technology is poised to be a catalyst for efficiency and expansion.

“Clara is a remarkable leader who deeply understands both the transformative potential of AI and the realities of how go-to-market teams operate,” HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan said in Wednesday’s release. “Her experience building and scaling AI products, from foundational model platforms to customer-facing applications, will be invaluable as HubSpot continues to embed AI across our customer platform.”

Before taking over as CEO of Salesforce AI in 2023, Shih ran the company's Service Cloud unit. There, she expanded generative AI capabilities with the launch of Einstein GPT and AgentForce, an AI agent developer platform.

Previously, Shih co-founded Hearsay Social in 2009 and served as CEO until transitioning to the role of executive chairman in 2020.

"HubSpot has a unique opportunity to help millions of growing businesses harness the power of AI to accelerate growth," Shih said in the release.

In February, HubSpot launched its own AI tool designed to help companies analyze brand awareness on AI search engines. Last week, the company announced it was acquiring XFunnels, a platform that helps businesses improve their presence on AI search engines.