RVshare has appointed the co-founders of HomeAway, Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd, and the former CMO of Southwest Airlines, Kevin Krone, to its board of directors. Earlier this year, RVshare hired former HomeAway Chief Revenue Officer Jon Gray as its new CEO and chairman and also received a $50 million infusion from Austin-based investment firm Tritium Partners.
The new board appointees join existing board members Gray, RVshare co-founder Mark Jenney, and Tritium Directors Phil Siegel and Brett Shobe in advising the company during this time of rapid growth.
“With the addition of Brian, Carl and Kevin, we round out the board with trusted advisors who can say ‘been there’ and ‘done that’ when it comes to defining a category while simultaneously building both a marketplace business and a brand,” said Gray. “RVshare is fortunate to have a dream team board of directors.”
Sharples is the former CEO of vacation rental giant HomeAway, which he founded in 2005 with Shepherd, the company’s former chief strategy and development officer. At HomeAway, they together raised over $400 million in private funding to acquire global vacation rental websites and build the world’s leading vacation rental marketplace. HomeAway went public in 2011 and was acquired by Expedia in 2015.
An expert in brand strategy, Sharples has counseled several major brands, including Apple, Microsoft and Dell. He currently serves on the board of directors at GoDaddy and formerly served on the board of Kayak and RetailMeNot.
During his 10-plus years at HomeAway, Shepherd held numerous executive positions and played a pivotal role in the company’s global M&A and legal efforts. He sits on the board at many internet travel companies including HostelWorld, PLC, @Leisure Group, OnceThere, and Turnkey Vacation Rentals.
Krone served as Southwest Airlines’ CMO, retiring in 2016 after a 25-year career with the company. At Southwest, he was laser focused on using customer insights to drive all marketing functions including branding, advertising, digital and mobile as well as product management and distribution. He also previously served on HomeAway’s board.