PROVO, Utah — Vivint Smart Home (NYSE: VVNT) announces that Dale Gerard will be stepping down as its chief financial officer (CFO), effective May 31, to accept a new role with a company outside of the smart home industry.
The company also announces that Dana Russell, Vivint Solar’s chief financial officer from 2013 to 2020, is joining Vivint Smart Home as its CFO and will work alongside Gerard to ensure a smooth transition.
During his 12 years at Vivint Smart Home, Gerard has served in various senior finance roles and helped lead the company through a period that included taking Vivint public in January 2020 through one of the largest de-SPAC mergers up to that point in time, according to the company.
He also helped spearhead the development of Vivint Flex Pay, which the company says pioneered consumer financing for the smart home industry. Gerard took over the position after then-CFO Mark Davies stepped down in 2019.
“We have been extremely fortunate to have Dale as a finance leader for the last 12 years,” says David Bywater, chief executive officer of Vivint Smart Home. “I want to express my sincere appreciation for his numerous and lasting contributions to our business, including mentoring many of our current finance leaders. He has laid a remarkable foundation through his tireless efforts that will continue to benefit us for years to come.”
Russell has more than 25 years of finance and operational expertise, most of which has been spent with technology and service businesses. He started his career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and later joined Novell, a publicly traded software and services company that was ultimately acquired by The Attachmate Group in 2011.
During his 12-year tenure at Novell, he held various positions including vice president of finance, treasurer and corporate controller before being named its chief financial officer. Russell became the CFO of Vivint Solar in December of 2013, where he helped take the company public in October of 2014 and ushered it through its acquisition by Sunrun in October of 2020 in a transaction valued at $5.4 billion at the time of closing.
“Having worked closely with Dana at Vivint Solar for almost five years, I benefited from his strong financial and accounting acumen as well as his insightful business judgement which led to stellar results for shareholders, customers and our employees,” Bywater states. “He has a deep understanding of the technology and service industries and will bring unique insights that will allow us to build on our strong track record. I am very excited to have Dana help us in this next chapter of growth as a leading smart home company.”
Russell will be responsible for all corporate finance and accounting functions, including treasury, tax, risk management, consumer financing, operations planning and analysis (OP&A), corporate controllership, and investor relations.
