Sonos Gets New CEO After App Disaster

Sonos today named interim CEO Tom Conrad as its permanent CEO, officially replacing Patrick Spence after he stepped down back in January.

Spence was CEO of Sonos for eight years, and he oversaw the disastrous app redesign that disappointed Sonos customers due to missing features and poor performance. Sonos had to delay product launches in order to focus on fixing the app, and ultimately laid off 100 employees.

Tom Conrad co-founded music service Pandora, and he was vice president of product at Snap and Chief Product Officer at Quibi. He also served on the Sonos board before being appointed interim CEO. Sonos was searching for a replacement CEO, but Conrad has been successful turning things around at Sonos over the past six months.

Conrad has been named Sonos' CEO, and he will also remain on the Board of Directors.

"Following a comprehensive and competitive search, the Board is confident that Tom is the best person to lead Sonos into its next chapter of delighting customers, spearheading innovation, and driving growth," said Julius Genachowski, Chair of the Board. "Over the past six months, Tom has earned the confidence of our employees, customers, partners and shareholders by restoring urgency and a deep commitment to delivering ever-improving experiences. He has a compelling vision for Sonos' future, with strong plans to harness technology to benefit our customers, as AI and other advances reframe the landscape and unlock new opportunities. We're energized by what Sonos' next chapter holds for all our stakeholders."

Sonos was able to improve its app and launch the Sonos Ace headphones and the Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar under Conrad's leadership. Conrad said that he is excited to "move from rebuilding to imagining the next generation of experiences."