Good morning. As the deadly wildfires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area, Airbnb, the short-term rental company, is mobilizing its hosts to house those in need.

I had a conversation with Airbnb CFO Ellie Mertz yesterday, who explained that Airbnb.org, a nonprofit founded by Airbnb that provides free emergency housing, is partnering with 211 LA, a group that is identifying Los Angeles County residents in need of temporary housing. They are specifically focused on residents who have either lost their homes or been forced to evacuate in the Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, Santa Monica, and Sylmar areas. Airbnb encourages those in need of assistance for free temporary housing to fill out this form or contact 211 LA.

Existing Airbnb hosts, and those who aren’t registered hosts, who want to open up their homes during this time of need are encouraged to volunteer, Mertz said. Hosts who sign up to share their homes through Airbnb.org receive damage protection and liability insurance with AirCover for each booking.

“In these moments of real stress for community members, we can mobilize our hosts, partner with nonprofits and open up those homes,” Mertz said. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Airbnb.org is a nonprofit with its own board and it’s independent of Airbnb, Inc. “But we work very closely with them, and the company has been extremely generous through the years in terms of supporting the organization,” she said.

For more than a decade, Airbnb.org has provided more than 1.6 million nights of emergency stays for more than 250,000 people, according to the organization. Some examples of other recent crises where assistance was provided include the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, the earthquake affecting Turkey and Syria, and the Maui wildfires, Mertz said.

I asked Mertz how Airbnb, the company, prepares for events like natural disasters. The firm has encountered these types of disruptive events, repeatedly every year, she said. And Airbnb has policies in place to activate when a particular region is impacted.

“We make cancellations much easier for both hosts and guests to respond to whatever the circumstances are on the ground and to ensure that they have the flexibility to remain safe given the circumstances,” she said.

Airbnb, a Fortune 500 company, is headquartered in San Francisco. However, it has a “Live and Work Anywhere” policy. I asked Mertz if any of the company’s employees were impacted by the wildfires.

“Part of our efforts over the last 48-plus hours has been to communicate and support our hosts and activate Airbnb.org,” she said. “We’ve also been checking in on employees. To date, we believe all of our employees are accounted for and safe.”

Take care. See you on Monday.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

*An upcoming event: The Fortune CFO Collaborative (sponsored by Deloitte) is an invitation-only group of CFOs from leading companies, which meets virtually and in person for deep-dive discussions on what is top of mind for finance leaders. This month, we will gather in Atlanta on Jan. 29 to discuss, “Preparing for the Next Administration: The CFO’s Role in Planning.”

It’s an invitation-only event. However, if you’d like more information, please send an email to: CFOCollaborative@Fortune.com

Leaderboard

Some notable moves this week:

Tammy Romo, EVP and CFO of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced plans to retire, effective April 1. Romo joined Southwest Airlines in 1991 and has held many leadership roles in the past 33 years. She became EVP and CFO in 2012. She also was responsible for supply chain management, corporate strategy, fuel and fleet strategy and management, and environmental sustainability. Southwest will begin a search for Romo's replacement.

Fazal Merchant was named president and CFO of Wiz, a cloud security provider. Merchant will lead Wiz's financial strategy while also ensuring IPO readiness, according to the company. Merchant has nearly 30 years of experience. He most recently served as co-CEO of Tanium. Before that, he was CFO of DreamWorks Animation SKG and managed the company's sale to Comcast.

Jonathan Root has been promoted to president of commercial and will continue to serve as CFO of Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG), effective Jan. 27. Root will assume oversight of global commercial operations while retaining his existing leadership of the finance organization. He was appointed as Harley-Davidson CFO in June 2023.

James Whitlinger was named EVP and CFO of Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC), effective Jan. 1. Whitlinger previously served as the company’s SVP and single-family CFO since 2014. He has served as interim CFO since June 2024, following the departure of Christian Lown, who served as CFO from June 2020 to June 2024.

Paul Carbone, CFO, has been named interim CEO of Panera Brands Inc., effective Jan. 7. José Alberto Dueñas, Panera Brands’ current CEO, has decided to step down from his role. Carbone, who joined Panera in 2023, is a former long-time CFO of Dunkin’ Brands. Panera is conducting a search for a permanent CEO.

William “Bill” Cooper was appointed CFO of Everspin Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRAM), a developer and manufacturer of magnetoresistive random access memory, effective Jan. 6. Cooper joins Everspin from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., where he was most recently director of financial planning and analysis.

Katie Rooney was appointed CFO of Maven Clinic, a global virtual clinic for women's and family health. Before joining Maven, Rooney served as the global CFO and chief operating officer at Alight for seven years. Rooney also previously served as the CFO of Aon Hewitt.

Sean Blitchok was appointed CFO of Zenoti, a cloud software solution for the beauty, wellness, and fitness industries. Blitchok brings over 30 years of expertise in finance. He's held executive roles at companies MeridianLink, Blackline, Salesforce, Hewlett-Packard, and Honeywell.

Big Deal

The latest KPMG AI Quarterly Pulse Survey focuses on AI strategies in 2025. The data shows that 68% of leaders surveyed will invest between $50-$250 million in generative over the next 12 months, up from 45% in Q1 of 2024. Fifty-one percent of organizations are exploring the use of AI agents and another 37% are piloting AI agents, according to the report.

However, there are obstacles to AI strategies such as data quality, according to the vast majority of leaders (85%), followed by data privacy and cybersecurity (71%), and employee adoption (46%).

The findings are based on a survey of 100 U.S.-based C-suite and business leaders representing organizations with an annual revenue of $1 billion or more.

Going deeper

Here are four Fortune weekend reads:

“Victims of the Pacific Palisades fire face another harsh reality: no insurance to rebuild” by Alicia Adamczyk

“JPMorgan and big banks prepare for flood of deals, survey finds 43% of middle-market CEOs expect ‘strategic’ opportunities” by Michael del Castillo

“Venture capital continued its slump in 2024—with Asian deals hitting their lowest count in a decade” by Nicholas Gordon

“This 40-year-old CEO started hosting group cold plunges in his backyard. Now, he has thousands of members who skip nightclubs to scream, cry, and freeze together” by Alexa Mikhail

Overheard

“This year will mark the normalization of overnight AI workflows. AI agents will handle repetitive tasks, such as data analysis and report generation, so teams can start their day with already-prepared insights.”

—Cameron Adams, a cofounder and chief product officer at Canva, a graphic design platform, shares his AI predictions for 2025 in a Fortune opinion piece.

Airbnb’s nonprofit wing helps LA fire victims find shelter, CFO says ‘right thing to do’