Lyft Announces CFO Elaine Paul's Departure, Names Replacement

Lyft announced today that Chief Financial Officer Elaine Paul is leaving the company just months after a new CEO was appointed. Following the announcement, Erin Brewer was named as Paul's replacement for this position.

Leaving Lyft

Chief Financial Officer Elaine Paul is leaving Lyft after serving in the position since January 2022. Reuters reported that her departure is happening just months after the announcement of co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer's resignation as the company's Chief Executive Officer and President, respectively.

Paul has been described as a seasoned leader with a commanding record of driving growth in tech and consumer-facing industries. Green and Zimmer stated during that time, "Elaine has made a career of thinking differently in established markets and knows how to create incredible value for both the business and our customers."

Before joining Lyft, she was also Amazon Studios' Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance, Hulu's Chief Financial Officer, Disney's Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Technology, and Vice President of Business Development for Internet Group.

As a result, Chief Accounting Officer Lisa Blackwood-Kapral will now serve as interim Finance Chief until the transition. Paul is set to step down from her position on May 19, with her replacement expected to join on July 10th. She will remain as an advisor until November 30 this year.

Lyft's New CFO

As per the company's announcement, Lyft named Erin Brewer as its new Chief Financial Officer, which will be effective July 10. Current CEO David Risher stated that Erin has succeeded at everything she has done by leading high-growth businesses, operating efficiently at scale, and putting customers at the center of her work, hence why she was chosen as the new CFO.

Brewer worked for Schwab as Managing Director of Enterprise Finance for around 2 and a half years until October last year. She also became the Head of Strategy and Finance at Atlassian and held various leadership roles for 13 years at McKesson. "I'm thrilled to team up with her to lead the charge to growth and profitability," Risher added.

For her annual base salary, Wall Street Journal reported that Brewer is set to receive $650,000 with a signing bonus of the same amount, payable in two equal installments. Additionally, she will also be receiving a restricted stock award with a grant date value of $10.8 million and a performance-based stock award valued at $7.2 million.

As a part of the executive shuffle, co-founders Green and Zimmer departed from the company after 11 years of being the president and CEO of Lyft. Both remain as board members and were replaced by former Amazon Executive David Risher.

Since then, there have been several changes and newly implemented orders under Risher's management. This includes reducing its workforce which affected a total of 1,072 employees, dropping shared ride offerings as a new strategy, and implementing a return-to-office policy for its remote employees.