eBay Alum Ashley Lawrence Returns To Lead Canada Operations
eBay has announced today that Ashley Lawrence will be returning to the company to lead Canadian operations, finally filling a General Manager role that has been empty for almost a year.
Lawrence previously held various leadership positions at eBay across Analytics, Finance, and Strategy from 2007-2021 as well as serving as Finance Director of Classifieds and CFO of Kijiji Canada, which was sold to Adevinta when eBay divested their classifieds business in 2021.
eBay began the search for a new GM Canada back in May 2025, with an eye toward strengthening North American cross border trade, after previous GM Garry Thaniel moved back to the US to lead Fashion category initiatives.
Liz Morton
Ron Jaiven was named GM North America in October 2025, bridging the leadership gap in Canada, but will presumably have the US market as his primary focus now that Lawrence has been hired.
This position has seen significant turnover in recent years. Going back to 2018, Andrea Stairs had been Promoted to Canada GM before then being bounced around to several other positions at the company - including a relatively uninspiring stint as VP Seller Community and Chief Marketing Officer before being replaced in the CMO role by Adrian Fung in 2022 - then VP Global Regulatory Trust and Monetization and finally winding up as VP COO in July 2025.
Her replacement as Canada GM in 2020 was Robert Bigler.
Bigler served in that role until April 2023 when he was promoted to take over as CEO of then newly acquired subsidiary TCGPlayer after former founder/CEO Chedy Hampson abruptly stepped down, along with eBay Chief Account Officer Brian Doerger, following due diligence failures and escalating labor relations issues which led to the formation of the first US union in eBay history.
Liz Morton
eBay announced in May 2025 they would be closing down the TCGPlayer authentication center, laying off over 200 unionized workers in Syracuse, NY and moving the whole operation to Kentucky.
Liz Morton
When Bigler was promoted to TCGPlayer in 2023, Garry Thaniel was moved from his role as then Global GM for Sneakers and Streetwear to take the GM Canada spot before returning to the US to lead Fashion in 2025.
Liz Morton
Lawrence joins as eBay continues to wrestle with fallout from the end of the de minimis exemption and an uncertain tariff landscape while launching eBay International Shipping in Canada to help streamline cross border trade.
Liz Morton
eBay Live also just launched in Canada last month as the company plays catch up with TikTok, Whatnot and other livestream shopping rivals.
Liz Morton
And as eBay looks for new opportunities to monetize the platform, Canada could be the next market to see introduction of buyer fees and Simple Delivery managed shipping.
Liz Morton
The new GM may also have some work to do repairing relationships with Canadian sellers, who've felt like the neglected stepchild of the platform over recent years after being left behind other eBay sites in gaining access to seller tools, not getting answers about the fate of the monthly community forum chat, and having to fight to retain some of the basic perks that sellers in other markets receive.
Not to mention the embarrassing fumble by Thaniel and his Canada leadership team at the 2024 Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.
Liz Morton
As a first step, I'd highly recommend for Lawrence to post an introduction in the eBay Canada community forum ASAP - and for extra points, leave it open to comments instead of locking it like US General Managers have done in the past.
Even better, set up an interactive Ask Me Anything style live chat session to allow Canadian sellers to engage directly with and provide feedback to Lawrence in a real time, two way discussion.
Until then, if you're a seller on eBay Canada - let us know in the comments below where you'd like to see the new General Manager focus and what your top suggestions are for the Canadian market!
