# Stephen Kaufer

> Stephen Kaufer is the American software engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tripadvisor in 2000 and led it as CEO until 2022. He now co-leads Give Freely, a shopping assistant that directs retailer commissions to users’ chosen charities, and serves as a board member and advisor at DirectBooker. His career connects software tools, traveler-generated information and the economics of collective participation.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Give Freely
- **Organizations:** Give Freely, Tripadvisor, CenterLine Software, CDS, Inc., CarGurus, Glassdoor, DirectBooker, Pillar VC
- **From:** Hollywood, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA in Computer Science, Harvard College
- **Known for:** Co-founded Tripadvisor and led it as CEO for 22 years., Led Tripadvisor through its 2004 sale and 2011 emergence as an independent public company., Tripadvisor had more than one billion reviews and opinions when his successor was announced in May 2022.

## Career timeline

- **1983-1984** — Captained Harvard’s men’s fencing team.
- **1985** — Co-founded CenterLine Software, a developer-tools company; served as vice president of engineering.
- **Before 2000** — Served as president of programming and testing tools vendor CDS, Inc.
- **2000** — Co-founded Tripadvisor with Langley Steinert and other founding team members.
- **2004** — Tripadvisor was acquired by IAC for $210 million in cash; Kaufer continued as CEO.
- **2011** — Tripadvisor became an independent public company through a spin-off from Expedia.
- **2022** — Left Tripadvisor’s CEO role after 22 years; Matt Goldberg succeeded him effective July 1.
- **2023** — Give Freely publicly launched in October, co-founded by Kaufer and Brendan Buono.
- **2025** — Publicly identified as a DirectBooker board member, advisor and investor.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Tripadvisor and led it as CEO for 22 years.
- Led Tripadvisor through its 2004 sale and 2011 emergence as an independent public company.
- Tripadvisor had more than one billion reviews and opinions when his successor was announced in May 2022.
- Co-founded and funded Give Freely to direct retailer commissions to charities.
- Captained Harvard’s men’s fencing team.

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Appeared with Richard Holden and Sanjay Vakil in a Phocuswright discussion about hotel booking and AI, as documented in the conference wrap-up.
- **2025-06** — Listed as a co-author of DirectBooker’s June 24 article on hotels and the AI era; identified as board member and advisor.
- **2024-10** — Give Freely announced an iPhone app on October 24.

## Links

- Website: https://givefreely.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stkaufer
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kaufer

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stephen-kaufer
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20