Robert Mylod is stepping back from his role as chairman of Redfin’s board of directors, a role he’s served in since 2016. David Lissy, a member of Redfin’s board since February 2018 and chairman of Bright Horizons, a child-care provider, will step into the role, starting July 1, 2020.
Glenn Kelman | Photo credit: Redfin
“[Lissy’s] experience running a mission-driven company with a large field organization already made him perfect for our board,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said, in a statement. “And now, because of [Lissy’s] leadership as a Redfin board director on culture, field compensation and communications, management structure, financial discipline and many other topics, he’s a natural choice as our chairman.”
[Lissy] has also developed a rapport with our execs, just as [Mylod] did, which makes it easier for the board to talk openly with management about where we want to do better.”
Mylod’s decision to step back from the role of chairperson — but continue to remain on the board of directors — comes after he was nominated to serve as the chairperson of Bookings Holdings, a company where he’s held various executive roles in the past. Mylod is also the chairperson of Vroom, an online auto trading website.
“[Mylod] has been a fantastic leader through times good and bad: a voice of reason, a financial hawk, a champion of our agents and other field staff, an advocate for consumers and low fees, a Johnny-on-the-spot in every crisis, all with an iron commitment to generating massive long-term profits,” Kelman said. “But we say this to praise him, not to bury him; we’re glad he’s staying on our board.”
David Lissy | Photo credit: Redfin
For Lissy, the role comes at a difficult time for both Redfin and the real estate industry at large. Redfin, last month, announced it was laying off 7 percent of its staff and furloughing roughly 41 percent of its agents. It’s also enacted pay cuts across the company and significantly at the executive level, due to the housing market slowdown associated with COVID-19.
The company’s stock price fell sharply in early March, down from an all-time company high of $32.43 per share to $10.33 per share, but has since rebounded, closing the week at $19.24 per share.
Lissy, who joined Redfin’s board in February 2018, had served the prior 16 years as the chairman of Bright Horizons.
“I’m excited to chair a company redefining real estate in consumers’ favor, and grateful for how far Bob Mylod has taken us already,” Lissy said, in a statement.
“Real estate is changing at a pace that seemed unimaginable even two months ago, as consumers embrace virtual meetings, virtual home tours, and virtual closings,” Lissy added. “The board’s job now is to make sure Redfin is prudent on the one hand about the challenges faced by almost every business these days, but aggressive on the other about taking our technology advantage to the bank.”
