Janice Sears has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer at Sonder in San Francisco - CA, USA
Sonder Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: SOND) ("Sonder" or the "Company") today announced that after a transformative tenure as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Francis Davidson has stepped down as Sonder's Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Company's Board of Directors. Janice Sears, Sonder's Chairperson of the Board, has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Ms. Sears will continue to serve as Sonder's Board Chairperson. The Board intends to immediately initiate a search process to identify Sonder's next CEO.
Mr. Davidson has been the visionary behind Sonder's mission to revolutionize hospitality, and now that the integration with Marriott International is complete, the time is right to transition leadership. During his tenure, Mr. Davidson grew Sonder into a leading hospitality brand generating several hundred million dollars of annual revenue, serving millions of guests across over 40 markets in nine countries across North America, Europe and the UAE.
Ms. Sears has served on the Sonder Board since 2021, as Chairperson since January 2025, and previously as Lead Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair. Ms. Sears previously served as a director of Legacy Sonder since August 2021. From April 1988 to January 2009, Ms. Sears served in a variety of positions at Bank of America Securities, an investment bank, including most recently as the Managing Director, Western Region Head in the Real Estate, Gaming & Lodging Investment Banking Group. She concurrently served as the San Francisco Market President for Bank of America, a financial services company. Previously, Ms. Sears was a Real Estate Economist at both Chemical Bank, a bank holding company, and Citicorp, a financial services company. She serves on the board of directors, is the current Audit Committee Chair, and previously served as a member of the compensation committee and special committee of IQHQ, a private REIT in the life sciences real estate sector. She previously served on the board of directors, including as Audit Committee Chair and as a member of the Compensation Committee, at Invitation Homes Inc., a REIT that owns and operates single family rental houses across the United States. Ms. Sears also previously served on the board, including as Audit Committee Chair, of Essex Property Trust Inc., a REIT that owns and manages multifamily properties in the western United States, BioMed Realty Trust, a life sciences real estate investment trust sold to Blackstone Real Estate, and several non-profit organizations and private companies, including The Swig Company, an owner of office buildings in New York and California. She serves professionally at the National Association of Corporate Directors and the West Audit Committee Network and is the Board Chair of QUALICB, the real estate arm of Compass Family Services. Ms. Sears is a NACD Certified Director and holds a B.A. in both Economics and Marketing from the University of Delaware.
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