23andMe appoints new board members as it works to stem the company’s slide

23andMe said it appointed three new independent directors to its board.

23andMe has appointed three new independent directors to its board following the mass resignation of all seven of its previous members last month.

The biotech company said in an SEC filing that Andre Fernandez, Mark Jensen, and Jim Frankola had joined the board on Monday. All three appointees will serve on the board’s audit and compensation committees.

Fernandez previously worked as WeWork’s chief financial officer from 2022 to 2023. Jensen was a managing partner at consulting firm Deloitte for 10 years before his retirement in 2012. Frankola worked as chief financial officer at Cloudera, an American data cloud company, from 2012 to 2021 before becoming a strategic advisor from 2021 to 2023.

The board’s only other member is CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki.

23andMe cofounder Anne Wojcicki. 

“I am excited to welcome these three experienced directors to the 23andMe Board, and looking forward to working with them,” Wojcicki said in a press release.

Once valued at $6 billion, 23andMe has faced several obstacles recently, including a large user data leak in 2023, declining stock values, and consumer privacy concerns.

The seven previous board members resigned in September in a letter addressed to Wojcicki, citing the company’s direction.

Wojcicki shared a proposal to take 23andMe private in a July SEC filing, which was reviewed by a special committee formed by the board of directors. The special committee responded less than a week later, writing they were “disappointed” in the proposal.

“Our expectation after months of work was that you would submit a fully-financed, fully-diligenced, actionable proposal that is in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders,” the letter read.

The special committee said it would give Wojcikci time to submit a revised proposal. However, the committee said it had not received the revised proposal in the September resignation letter.

“While we continue to wholeheartedly support the Company’s mission and believe deeply in the value of the personalized health and wellness offering that you have articulated, it is also clear that we differ on the strategic direction for the Company going forward,” the letter read.

In a statement after his appointment, Jensen said the new board was “ready to dig in” and “act with urgency” to turn things around at the company.

“23andMe has a great brand, and the Company remains firmly committed to its mission of helping people access, understand and benefit from the human genome,” he said.

Each new director will receive $1 million in cash compensation, according to the SEC filing.

Representatives for 23andMe did not immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17.