Netflix’s board has decided to keep venture-capitalist Jay Hoag as a director — after shareholders had voted to oust him — and is adding a new board member: Airbnb CFO Ellie Mertz, who previously spent seven years as a finance executive at Netflix.
As a member of the Netflix board, Mertz will serve on the audit committee. Leslie Kilgore, a former CMO of Netflix, is moving from the audit committee to the compensation committee, where she will serve as chair.
At Netflix’s June 5 annual meeting, 78% of the shares that were voted on Hoag’s reelection to the board were against him. As such, Hoag — Netflix’s lead independent director — “offered his resignation from the board, conditioned upon board acceptance,” Netflix said. Prior to the meeting, proxy advisory firm ISS recommended shareholders vote against Hoag, citing his poor attendance at board meetings (with an attendance rate of 50% in 2024).
On Tuesday, Netflix disclosed in an SEC filing that the board’s nominating and governance committee “recommended that the Board reject Mr. Hoag’s resignation offer.”
“Mr. Hoag’s continued service as a member of the Board is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders,” Netflix said in the 8-K filing. “The Board determined that his absences in 2024 did not indicate a lack of commitment to his duties, noting that Mr. Hoag possesses an otherwise exemplary attendance record. Mr. Hoag’s attendance rate was 97% in the five years prior to 2024.” The board’s nominating and governance committee said that Hoag “remained engaged with the Company and Board activities by attending meetings with senior management, engaging in pre-Board meeting memos, and helping to set agenda topics for meetings.”
Hoag, an early investor in Netflix, has served as a founding general partner at VC firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) since 1995.
Mertz’s term as a Netflix director became effective June 22, 2025, for a term expiring at the company’s 2026 annual meeting of stockholders. Her addition to Netflix’s board as its 13th member comes after previous board member Timothy Haley, co-founder of VC firm Redpoint Ventures, did not stand for reelection at the 2025 annual meeting.
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“We are very pleased to welcome Ellie Mertz to the Netflix board,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, who are also board members, said in a statement. “Ellie’s tenure at Airbnb, combined with her deep understanding of Netflix, makes her uniquely positioned to contribute to our strategic vision. Her experience as a public company finance professional and leader will be invaluable as we accelerate innovation and continue to entertain the world.”
Mertz, in a statement provided to Variety, said, “I’m honored to be joining the board of Netflix, a company that played a formative role in my career. I’ve always held a deep respect for Netflix’s product and culture, and I look forward to working with the team to continue scaling the business and delighting consumers globally.”
Mertz has served as CFO at Airbnb since March 2024, where she leads the global finance team and is responsible for the company’s financial management, including financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax, treasury and investor relations. She was previously Airbnb’s VP of finance. Prior to joining Airbnb in 2013, Mertz served as VP of finance at Netflix, where she held various finance roles from 2006 to 2013. She currently serves on the boards of DoorDash and Faire Wholesale.
Mertz holds a bachelor’s degree in science, technology and society from Stanford University, a master’s degree in history from Stanford University, a master of international affairs from Columbia University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
At the 2025 Netflix shareholders meeting, 11 of the company’s board members were reelected: co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, chairman Reed Hastings, Richard Barton, Mathias Döpfner, Leslie Kilgore, Strive Masiyiwa, Ann Mather, Susan Rice, Brad Smith and Anne Sweeney.
From Variety US