Vacation rental startup Vacasa has hired a new CFO with IPO experience, as the company lays the groundwork for a post-Covid recovery.
The company said Tuesday that it hired Jamie Cohen, the former chief financial officer of ANGI Homeservices, to join the executive team during its “next stage of growth.” Cohen will assume the role in March.
She replaces Jim Grube, who left Vacasa in November after about a year on the job.
While weathering a volatile year for the hospitality industry, Vacasa’s C-suite has undergone dramatic changes.
Matt Roberts, former chief executive of OpenTable, replaced founder Eric Breon as CEO in February 2020. Mike Dodson, another OpenTable exec, joined as chief revenue officer a month later.
At ANGI, Cohen helped grow revenue from $200 million to $1.4 billion, Vacasa said in a statement. As the company’s CFO, she oversaw the merger of HomeAdvisor with Angie’s List, which created ANGI Homeservices. The company went public in 2017.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Vacasa manages short-term rentals on behalf of owners. Since 2009, it has raised $634 million, according to Crunchbase.
It gained unicorn status in 2019, when it raised $319 million from Silver Lake. The private equity firm, which bought stakes in Airbnb and Expedia last year, invested another $108 million in Vacasa in June.
Vacasa manages 23,000 homes on behalf of owners, charging between 20 percent and 40 percent commission per rental.
In the statement, Vacasa cited “pent-up demand for vacation rentals.” In the first week of January, it notched its two highest days for reservations since July. The seven-day booking average is 50 percent higher than December.