Drew Houston

Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer & Chair of the Board Dropbox

Last Reviewed: September 19, 2026

Executive Summary

Drew Houston co-founded Dropbox in 2007 and has been its chief executive and a member of its board without interruption since June of that year — an unusually long unbroken run for a founder of a company that has since gone public. Dropbox turned the problem of getting a file from one machine to another into a consumer product that ordinary people could use without thinking about it, and then built an enterprise business on top of that habit. In May 2026 the board appointed Ashraf Alkarmi, previously the company’s General Manager for its core business, as Co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Houston. Dropbox has said it expects Houston to move to Executive Chairman once the transition completes; as of a Form 4 filed on 14 September 2026 he was still serving as Co-CEO and as a director. He also sits on the board of Meta Platforms.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Dropbox in 2007 and has served as a director and Chief Executive Officer since June 2007, per the company’s April 2026 proxy statement.
• Chair of the Dropbox board of directors.
• Took Dropbox public on Nasdaq in 2018.
• Serves on the board of directors of Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META).
• Named Co-Chief Executive Officer in May 2026 when the board appointed Ashraf Alkarmi to serve alongside him, with the company stating it expects Houston to become Executive Chairman after the transition.
• Holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professional Journey

Houston co-founded Dropbox in 2007 and has run it ever since. The company’s SEC filings are unusually plain about the continuity: the April 2026 proxy statement records him as a director since 2007 and as Chief Executive Officer since June 2007, and selects him for the board “because of the perspective and experience he brings as our Chief Executive Officer and as one of our co-founders.” He chairs that board. Dropbox listed on Nasdaq in 2018 and has grown into a platform used by hundreds of millions of people, positioned by the company as the home for its customers’ most important work.

The leadership change announced in 2026 is a succession in progress rather than a departure. On 21 May 2026 the board appointed Ashraf Alkarmi — who had joined Dropbox in November 2024 as General Manager, Core, after a period as Chief Product Officer at Vimeo and senior product roles at Amazon and Meta — as Co-Chief Executive Officer and as a director, effective 26 May. The 8-K announcing it is explicit that Houston remains Co-Chief Executive Officer for a period to ensure a smooth transition, and that he is expected to move into the role of Executive Chairman afterwards, at which point Alkarmi would be sole CEO. Houston’s own comment in the filing describes Alkarmi as the leader he trusts most to guide Dropbox through its next chapter and says he looks forward to working alongside him as co-CEO. Karen Peacock, the lead independent director, framed it the same way.

That transition had not completed by the time of this review. Houston’s most recent Form 4, reporting a transaction dated 10 September 2026, still lists his officer title as Co-CEO and still flags him as a director. Outside Dropbox, he serves on the board of Meta Platforms.

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science