Zillow's CLO Kathleen Philips Announces Retirement
Kathleen Philips, who serves as the online real estate company's chief financial officer as well as its chief legal officer, will retire from her CFO role at the end of the month but will continue her CLO duties through the end of the year.
May 08, 2018 at 02:04 PM
3 minute read
Kathleen Philips. Handout.
The top lawyer at online real estate company Zillow Group Inc. is packing up and moving into retirement.
Kathleen Philips, who serves as the Seattle-based company's chief financial officer as well as its chief legal officer, will retire from her CFO role at the end of the month, the company announced Monday. She will continue her CLO duties through the end of the year but, after 2018, will still advise Zillow on legal, corporate development and finance matters until her eventual retirement in 2020.
Jennifer Rock, Zillow's vice president of financial reporting, technical accounting and financial planning and analysis, will serve as interim CFO until the company finds a new top financial officer via an executive recruiting firm, according to the news release. Rock also has been running the company's compliance department for seven years. Zillow General Counsel Brad Owens will remain in his current role, according to the company.
“My eight years at Zillow Group – including three years as CFO and Chief Legal Officer — have been rewarding and challenging,” Philips said in an emailed statement. “I am very proud of what my team and I have accomplished over the years and am so grateful for the relationships I have built through my work at Zillow Group.”
Philips joined Zillow as GC in 2010, notably helping to facilitate its initial public offering in 2011, according to an August 2013 Corporate Counsel article that announced Philips was adding the title of chief operating officer to her existing legal role. She held the COO title until becoming CFO in 2015.
Philips also has seen Zillow through 14 acquisitions—six of those in less than two years—including that of Trulia in 2015. As of early 2014, the legal department she oversaw had seven attorneys, according to a National Law Journal profile.
“I've been impressed by Kathleen from the moment I met her, when she was general counsel at Hotwire,” Rich Barton, co-founder and executive chairman of Zillow Group, said in Philips' retirement announcement. “We have not made a single important strategic decision at Zillow Group without Kathleen's intelligence and judgment. I will miss her, but I am pleased that she will continue to be available for counsel.”
Before joining Zillow, Philips served as GC at such companies as FanSnap Inc., a ticket search engine; Pure Digital Technologies, which was acquired by Cisco Systems Inc. in 2009; StubHub; and Hotwire.com.
This story has been updated to include comment from Philips.
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