Airbnb's Ellie Mertz on becoming finance chief: 'Part of the CFO's role is to steady the ship, no matter what the waters look like'

Good morning. Airbnb’s new finance chief has experience steeped in strategy. Ellie Mertz, who took over as CFO on March 1, joined the short-term rental company in 2013 and has been integral in helping to revolutionize short-term stays. Cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky called her his “right hand for nearly 11 years” and said that “under her leadership, our company grew from adolescence to adulthood, with revenue growing over 100x.” Mertz, who spent seven years at Netflix in a variety of financial planning and analysis roles before joining Airbnb, succeeded...