Outdoorsy Appoints New Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer
Strategic financial executive Michael Dougherty joins world's largest on-demand marketplace for RV rentals to accelerate the global growth of the peer-to-peer platform
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 18, 2021 /CNW/ -- Outdoorsy, the most-trusted and only global online RV rental and outdoor travel marketplace, announced today that Michael Dougherty joined the company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO), effective February 17. Dougherty joins Outdoorsy from iHeartMedia where he was the co-founder and CEO of Jelli, the world's largest digital ad platform for audio.
Dougherty brings with him an extensive background in corporate finance, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions, strategic leadership and risk management, along with a deep personal appreciation for Outdoorsy and its unique vision of enabling outdoor travel in a way that has never been seen before.
"I'm thrilled to welcome Mike to Outdoorsy where he will undoubtedly make an impact as a financial and operational leader, accelerating the growth of our business globally," said Jeff Cavins, Co-Founder and CEO of Outdoorsy. "I am particularly impressed with Mike's approach to leadership when it comes to the strategic and operational requirements of a CFO and COO, as well as his ability to navigate and lead transformational growth. Mike is joining the Outdoorsy leadership team who is committed to accelerating growth sustainably on behalf of the many thousands of owners and travelers we serve in our marketplace."
Dougherty will lead Outdoorsy's financial operations and corporate and strategic development, as well as the operating functions of the company. He will report directly to Cavins.
"It is a fantastic time to be joining Outdoorsy," Dougherty said. "The company has grown rapidly over the past five years, and the unquenchable consumer interest across the globe has created greater opportunities for the company to fulfill and support this demand for travel. Jeff and his entire executive team recognize the importance of innovation and the world's love for outdoor travel, and are focused on making a customer-first ethos a mandate at Outdoorsy. For these reasons, I'm inspired to join Outdoorsy and help build a stronger, global, consumer-centric company."
Dougherty has more than 27 years of management and financial experience in capital markets, finance, and in executive leadership roles, at both public and private technology companies. He spent seven years on Wall Street as Vice President of Investment Banking at Chase H&Q in New York City, managing teams specializing in leveraged finance and emerging technology growth/build-out financings, closing $11.2 billion in financings during his investment banking career.
Dougherty led over 35 successful LBO financings, public and 144A high yield bond offerings, forward underwriting/bridge financings, tender offers, consent solicitations, restructuring advisory work, and M&A fairness opinions, with transaction sizes ranging from $80 million to $2.5 billion.
Prior to joining Outdoorsy, Dougherty served for more than a decade as the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Jelli, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia and the largest cloud-based technology platform for the $40 billion global audio advertising market. Under Dougherty's leadership, the company grew to reach hundreds of millions of people monthly, serving billions of audio ads.
Before founding Jelli, Dougherty led business development, corporate development, and M&A at Tellme, one of the largest voice application platforms, enabling advanced speech applications and voice-powered user experiences. The company was founded by Netscape and Microsoft engineers and backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, and Barksdale Group. Tellme was acquired by Microsoft in 2007 for over $800 million.
Prior to Tellme, Dougherty led corporate development and M&A and capital markets at Loudeye, a global digital media distribution and licensing platform backed by Barksdale Group, Allen & Company, AOL, Microsoft, Intel, NBC, CBS, CAA, and Akamai. Loudeye's platform was the media distribution engine behind iTunes and was at the core of every music-related service in the world. Dougherty led the financings that raised $57 million via three common stock placements and developed and managed partnerships that included 40 brands in 23 countries, including MSN, Nokia, EMI, Her Majesty's Voice, Apple, Coca-Cola, AT&T, O2, MTV, and Target. The company was acquired by Nokia in 2006.
Dougherty received his AB with honors from Harvard.
About Outdoorsy
Outdoorsy is the world's largest and most trusted on-demand, RV rental and outdoor travel marketplace on the planet. Founded in 2015, we have offices worldwide in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France and the UK. Our mission is to mobilize the 54+ million idle RVs around the world to ensure everyone has the access, choice, and opportunity to safely enjoy outdoor experiences and empower RV owners to realize life-changing financial benefits. With more than 3.2 million rental days booked and more than 200,000 unique vehicles available to rent in 4,800+ cities across 14 countries, we're here so that you can make the most of your time outside.
SOURCE Outdoorsy
Claire Walsh, [email protected], www.outdoorsy.com
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