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US: Short-term rental apartment management company Sonder has announced a number of key changes to its board of directors with immediate effect, including co-founder and CEO, Francis Davidson, being replaced as board chairperson.
According to the company’s website, Davidson no longer serves as chairman and has instead been replaced by lead independent director Janice Sears. A company statement read that Sonder had “transitioned to a structure with an independent director serving as the board chairperson” in order to “enhance corporate governance”.
While Sears has served on the company’s board for nine years, Davidson, who co-founded Sonder in 2014 and had held the position of board chairperson since that same year, will remain as CEO and continue serving as a board director.
In further changes, Erin Wallace, a former senior executive of the theme parks and resorts business at The Walt Disney Company, has joined Sonder’s board.
Wallace takes over a role vacated by Nabeel Hyatt, who had served on the board since 2016 before stepping down on 31 December.
Wallace will now be responsible for supporting Sonder’s ongoing operational and growth initiatives, five months after the apartment management company entered into a long-term licensing agreement with Marriott International. With a full integration expected this year, 9,000 live Sonder units had been due to join Marriott’s portfolio by the end of 2024, with an additional 1,500 units set to follow in the future.
At the same time, Sonder also secured $146 million in liquidity, including approximately $43 million in a convertible preferred equity investment, and additional funds from an investor consortium and existing noteholders.
Previously in 2024, the firm had made 17 per cent of its corporate workforce redundant, announced a significant reduction in its portfolio, and closed a $10 million financing to “improve the company’s unrestricted liquidity”.
San Francisco-based Sonder currently operates in more than 40 markets across ten countries and three continents.
