Erin Pelton has joined e-commerce big hitter Shopify to oversee communications and public affairs.

She joins from the Biden-Harris Administration where she served as Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, Domestic Policy Council at The White House.

“I’m thrilled to join a company that is such a powerful engine of innovation, removing barriers for millions of businesses around the world,” Pelton said in a Twitter post.

Some News: after an amazing run in the Biden Admin, I'm heading to @Shopify to oversee communications and public affairs globally. I'm thrilled to join a company that is such a powerful engine of innovation, removing barriers for millions of businesses around the world.
— Erin Pelton (@erin_pelton) August 26, 2022

Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Pelton co-founded Puerto Rico Live, a social enterprise that connected US thought leaders to Puerto Rico, and was a principal at Pinpoint Strategies.

A US Foreign Service Officer until 2014, she served as Director of Communications and Spokesperson at the United States Mission to the United Nations; Assistant Press Secretary and Director of Communications and Media Relations at the National Security Council; Deputy Spokesperson for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the US Department of State, and overseas at the US Embassies in Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

New CTO

Last year, Shopify appointed Allan Leinwand as Chief Technology Officer.

Leinwand’s CV includes stints as SVP Engineering at Slack, and Chief Technology Officer at both ServiceNow and Zynga.

He has also been a Venture Partner at Panorama Capital (previously JPMorgan Partners), focusing on network and systems technology investments.

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