Reglikedomain industry desk

Rejoins domain name industry as CEO of Com Laude — Ben Crawford

Rejoins domain name industry as CEO of Com Laude — Ben Crawford

Crawford takes CEO position following private equity-led buyout.

Headshot photo of Ben Crawford

Former CentralNic (now Team Internet Group) CEO Ben Crawford has returned to the domain name industry as CEO of corporate domain registrar Com Laude.

Crawford helped build Team Internet Group from a tiny firm to $700 million in annual revenue ahead of leaving the firm at the end of 2022.

While there, he apparently tried to buy Com Laude in 2017. Now he will be its CEO.

Crawford is also joining the board as a director. He will be joined by Nick Wood, who co-founded Com Laude and served as its CEO until 2017. Wood was Executive Chairman of the board until just a few months ago when private equity firm PX3 Partners purchased the firm.

It will be interesting to see how the firm evolves under Crawford’s leadership and under PX3’s ownership. I don’t think it will be content to run the status quo.

Crawford replaces Glenn Hayward, who served as CEO for six years.

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