Elizabeth Barat
Chief People Officer at APPF
Executive
About Elizabeth Barat
Elizabeth Barat, age 49, is AppFolio’s Chief People Officer (CPO) and has served in this role since April 2023; her prior roles include organizational effectiveness, people development, and HR leadership at Sonos and Target Corporation, and she holds a B.A. in Psychology from San Francisco State University . During her tenure period, company performance advanced: AppFolio reported 2024 revenue of $794,202 thousand and net income of $224,301 thousand, up sharply from 2022, with total shareholder return (TSR) rising to 224 (index, base=100) in 2024 from 96 in 2022 . These outcomes reflect improved operating execution and growth while the company’s incentive framework emphasizes units growth, revenue, and adjusted GAAP operating margin as primary pay-for-performance metrics .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| AppFolio | Senior Vice President of People (prior to CPO) | — | Leadership of People function prior to appointment as CPO |
| Sonos | Organizational effectiveness, people development, HR management | — | Built talent development and HR capabilities supporting scaling operations |
| Target Corporation | General HR management | — | People operations and leadership pipeline development |
External Roles
- No external public-company directorships or committee roles disclosed in the executive biography section of the 2025 Proxy Statement .
Fixed Compensation
- Individual base salary and target bonus for Ms. Barat are not disclosed in the 2025 Proxy Statement (she was an executive officer but not a 2024 named executive officer); AppFolio’s program includes base salary reviewed annually considering role scope and performance .
Performance Compensation
- Executives participate in the Corporate Bonus Plan and Long-Term Equity Incentive Plan; 2024 performance metrics and weightings applied company-wide were Booked Residential Units (40%), Revenue (30%), and Adjusted GAAP Operating Margin (30%) with threshold/target/maximum payout curves .
| Metric | Weight | Threshold Attain./Payout | Target Attain./Payout | Max Attain./Payout | 2024 Actual Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Booked Residential Units | 40% | 85% / 50% | 100% / 100% | 120% / 200% | 102% |
| Revenue | 30% | 97% / 75% | 100% / 100% | 106% / 150% | 123% |
| Adjusted GAAP Operating Margin | 30% | 85% / 50% | 100% / 100% | 115% / 150% | 150% |
| Blended payout | — | — | — | — | 123% |
- PSU design and vesting: One-third of 2024 PSUs vested upon performance certification on Feb 10, 2025; the remaining two-thirds vest in equal quarterly installments over the following two years, contingent on continued employment .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership (proxy record date): Ms. Barat beneficially owned 5,711 shares of Class A common stock as of March 31, 2025 (less than 1%) .
| Ownership Detail | Class A Shares | % of Class A | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (Proxy, 3/31/2025) | 5,711 | * | Percent “*” denotes less than 1% |
- Section 16 initial filing (Form 3 as of Jan 29, 2025, filed Feb 10, 2025): Disclosed 18,663 Class A shares including time-based RSUs and previously earned PRSUs; table below details vesting schedules and amounts .
| Award Type | Shares | Vesting Schedule | Key Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSU | 151 | Vests in full | 2/10/2025 |
| RSU | 1,996 | Vests in full | 12/10/2025 |
| RSU | 436 | 20% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2026 | 2/10/2025 start |
| RSU | 1,509 | 11% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2027 | 2/10/2025 start |
| RSU | 1,549 | 11% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2027 | 2/10/2025 start |
| RSU | 2,797 | 8% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2028 | 2/10/2025 start |
| RSU | 3,730 | 8% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2028 | 2/10/2025 start |
| RSU | 3,181 | 6% on 5/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2029 | 5/10/2025 start |
| PRSU (earned) | 198 | Vests in full | 2/10/2025 |
| PRSU (earned) | 1,801 | 20% on 2/10/2025; remainder quarterly through 2/10/2026 | 2/10/2025 start |
- Hedging/pledging: Insider Trading Policy prohibits hedging, short sales, buying/selling options, and—subject to limited exceptions—purchasing on margin, holding in margin accounts, or pledging company stock as collateral; this reduces alignment risk from pledging or derivative hedges .
Employment Terms
- Clawback: AppFolio adopted an Executive Compensation Recovery Policy on July 26, 2023 to comply with Exchange Act Section 10D and Nasdaq Rule 5608; applies to current and former executive officers and other senior executives as determined by the Compensation Committee . Employment agreements include clawback language subjecting compensation to any company clawback policy and applicable law (e.g., SEC/stock exchange rules, SOX 304) .
- Change-in-control and award treatment (2015 Plan): If awards are not assumed or substituted in a Corporate Transaction, vesting accelerates immediately prior to the transaction for all shares subject to such awards .
- 10b5-1/insider trading controls: Executives are subject to the company’s Insider Trading Policy; trading windows and pre-clearance are governed by the policy (policy referenced in proxy) .
Company Performance Context (during Barat’s tenure period)
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($000s) | 471,883 | 620,445 | 794,202 |
| Net Income ($000s) | (68,119) | 2,702 | 224,301 |
| TSR Index (base=100, year-end) | 96 | 158 | 224 |
Investment Implications
- Vesting cadence and potential selling pressure: Multiple RSU and earned PRSU tranches vest on 2/10/2025, 5/10/2025, 12/10/2025, and quarterly thereafter through 2026–2029, creating recurring liquidity events that can translate into periodic insider sale filings and modest supply overhangs if shares are sold to cover taxes or monetize awards .
- Alignment and retention: Ownership is primarily via unvested RSUs/PRSUs with multi-year vesting, promoting retention and long-term alignment; policy prohibitions on hedging and pledging further reduce misalignment risk .
- Pay-for-performance linkage: Corporate incentives are tied to growth and profitability (units, revenue, adjusted GAAP operating margin) with above-target 2024 outcomes producing a 123% blended payout; this framework sustains at-risk pay sensitivity to operating execution which can support valuation if metrics remain on track .
- Change-in-control protections: While individual severance specifics for the CPO are not disclosed, plan-level treatment accelerates equity if not assumed, which can reduce retention risk through deal uncertainty but also crystallizes value for insiders in a transaction scenario .
- Business execution backdrop: Revenue and profitability inflected positively from 2022 to 2024, and TSR advanced to 224 by 2024 year-end; sustained performance on the company’s metric stack remains the key driver of realized compensation value and insider liquidity pacing .