Opendoor names new president to ‘execute on what's next’
Lucas Matheson, who worked with Opendoor’s CEO at Shopify, will step into the leadership position. Plus, Christy Schwartz’s interim CFO role is made permanent.
Editor's note: As an industry with millions of agents and over 100,000 brokerage companies, new leaders rise to the top every day. Here we highlight executives and other notable leaders who've recently taken on, or stepped away from, roles that influence the residential real estate landscape.
Opendoor is capping off an arguably chaotic 2025 with more leadership changes as the company begins moving toward its next stage of growth.
A new president: On Dec. 15, the iBuyer announced it has named Lucas Matheson to serve as president, effective Dec. 22. Shrisha Radhakrishna, who stepped in as interim president after former CEO Carrie Wheeler resigned in August, will continue to serve in his prior role as chief technology and product officer.
Matheson will be focused on corporate development and financial planning and analysis. He will also assess whether Opendoor can implement blockchain technology and tokenization to "create new pathways to homeownership," according to a company news release.
"Real estate is one of the last major asset classes that hasn't been touched by the financial innovation happening everywhere else," Matheson said in the release. "Opendoor has already proven you can reimagine how people buy and sell homes. I'm here to help execute on what's next."
In a post on LinkedIn, Matheson reiterated his belief that real estate is an "antiquated" industry and described Opendoor's interest in innovating it as "not only deeply inspiring" but "now possible in a modern era of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology."
Matheson most recently served as CEO of Coinbase in Canada and previously held leadership positions focused on operations and expansion at Shopify. Another Shopify alum? Kaz Nejatian, who served as Shopify's COO before stepping into the CEO role at Opendoor in September.
Matheson will receive an annual base salary of $500,000 and a $200,000 sign-on bonus, according to an 8-K signed by Nejatian on Dec. 15. Matheson will also be awarded performance restricted stock units (PRSUs) initially valued at $6 million, the form said.
A permanent CFO: Opendoor also announced that Christy Schwartz is no longer just a temporary CFO.
After filling the role in an interim capacity following the departure of ex-CFO Selim Freiha in September, Schwartz's position will become permanent on Jan. 1.
Nejatian said he "looked everywhere" for a new CFO and came to the realization that "the person with the deepest command of our business, the trust of every team, and the bias for action we need was already here."
Schwartz's annual base salary will be $1.2 million until mid-May, after which her annual salary will drop to $500,000. She will receive an initial $100,000 sign-on bonus and another in mid-May, and will also be awarded 1,695,000 PRSUs at the end of this year, according to the 8-K.