Smith and Flitton step down from CCO and CTO roles at Vacasa
US: Craig Smith and Jeff Flitton have stepped down from their respective chief commercial officer [CCO] and chief technology officer [CTO] roles at Portland-based vacation rental management platform Vacasa.
The former leaves after just four months in the position.
The pair’s resignations come only a matter of weeks after Vacasa reduced its workforce by 17 per cent, its second major round of layoffs in the last six months.
T.J. Clark, a co-founder of TurnKey Vacation Rentals [acquired by Vacasa in April 2021] will be Smith’s replacement in the CCO role, while the other TurnKey co-founder, John Banczak, has been promoted to serve as chief operating officer [COO].
There have been conflicting reports about whether Smith has already left Vacasa or whether he will stay on until 13 March to assist during the transition phase.
An internal email addressing Clark’s appointment read: “T.J. is a proven growth leader, having led similar functions as co-founder of TurnKey. We are excited for him to leverage the solid foundation Craig has put in place and to take the team to the next level.”
Flitton departed Vacasa in January, three years after being promoted to the CTO position, replacing Tim Goodwin. He joined Vacasa in 2017, previously serving as the company’s vice president of engineering, and was tasked with expanding machine learning applications to develop new products and services.
Vacasa has overseen a sizeable upheaval of senior positions in recent months, even prior to Smith’s resignation. Smith’s predecessor was chief revenue officer Michael Dodson [who left the firm in early November], with the former assuming the CRO and CCO responsibilities when he was previously promoted in October.
Chief product officer Michael Xenakis departed Vacasa at the end of October, a couple of weeks after Rob Greyber succeeded Matt Roberts as CEO of Vacasa in August. Rachel Gonzalez, a former general counsel at Starbucks Corporation, was also hired to serve as an observer on Vacasa’s board of directors.
After being promoted in October, Smith was tasked with improving the sales and operating team’s output to help Vacasa reach profitability in 2023, and with assessing organic growth and merger and acquisition [M&A] opportunities
Vacasa’s fourth quarter earnings call is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks and it may reveal more details about the resignation and latest promotions.
