Airbnb has appointed the first woman to its board who, the firm’s CEO says, brings significant risk and financial oversight.
Ann Mather, 58, a former chief financial officer at Pixar Studios, will join the firm as an independent director. Mather serves on the boards of Alphabet – Google’s parent company – and Netflix.
Airbnb co-founder and chief executive officer Brian Chesky said he was especially excited to welcome the guidance that Mather will offer in helping the firm institutionalize its intentions as it plans for the future – a nod towards the firm’s expected IPO.
Chesky, who heads up the San Francisco-based company which investors value at around $31 billion, described Mather as bringing a “deep experience” in risk and financial oversight to the board from her previous roles.
In May this year, the CEO told a conference that he wanted to add two women to the company’s board in 2018. Until Mathers’ appointment, the board was composed of the company’s three male founders and three other men, Bloomberg reports.
Chesky told the same conference this year that the company would be ready to IPO in 2019, but was not certain when it would do so. He then revealed in June that the firm could go public as soon as June 30, 2019, but not later than late 2020, and put a plan into motion that will see workers receive cash bonuses as they wait for a potential IPO and will give all employees more choices with future compensation.
Airbnb’s former chief financial officer, Laurence Tosi, departed this year amid disagreements over when to go public.
