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Board Appoints Janice Sears as Independent Chair
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonder Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SOND) (“Sonder” or the “Company”) today announced that Erin Wallace was appointed to its Board of Directors (the “Board”) on January 1, 2025. Nabeel Hyatt, who has served on the Sonder Board since 2016, resigned from the Board on December 31, 2024. Additionally, Sonder has transitioned to a structure with an independent director serving as the Board Chairperson, which is consistent with the Board’s focus on enhancing corporate governance. Janice Sears, who previously served as Lead Independent Director of the Board, has been appointed as Chairperson of the Board.
Ms. Wallace brings over three decades of operations expertise across the hospitality, entertainment and resort industries. She spent the majority of her career at The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”), where she held various senior executive roles across its theme parks and resorts business, including overseeing global guest-facing operations for all lines of business. Following her retirement from Disney, Ms. Wallace held subsequent executive roles as Chief Operating Officer of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., where she led operations for the company’s entire lodge footprint across the U.S. and oversaw new lodge openings with next-generation brand standards and standard operating procedures, and as Chief Operating Officer of The Learning Care Group, Inc., where she led operations of over 900 early childhood education centers across the U.S. Ms. Wallace currently serves on the board of directors of FirstService Corporation and Coast Entertainment Holdings Limited.
Janice Sears, Chairperson of the Sonder Board, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Erin to the Sonder Board. Her expertise at the intersection of hospitality and operations is the perfect complement to our Board as we oversee Sonder’s next phase of transformation and growth. Ongoing refreshment and continuous governance enhancements are an important part of our work and the changes we announced today underscore that commitment. On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Nabeel for his countless contributions and longstanding service to Sonder.”
“As we continue to progress with our integration efforts under the strategic licensing agreement with Marriott International and with the continued execution of our operational initiatives across the business, Erin’s expertise will be immediately additive to the transformational efforts underway,” said Francis Davidson, Co-Founder and CEO of Sonder. “Nabeel saw our vision for Sonder from the very beginning and his early investment in our company has been a foundational part of our growth story. I have greatly appreciated his guidance as a Board member over the past decade and Nabeel has helped Sonder achieve numerous milestones.”