After a torrid year or so for Sonos (Nasdaq: SONO), it looks as if the multi-room speaker and audio brand could be heading for calmer waters with today’s announcement that the board of directors has appointed Tom Conrad as the new CEO with immediate effect. Conrad had been serving as interim CEO of Sonos since January 2025. He will 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.”
It’s been a difficult time for Sonos since the company rolled out a controversial new update for its app last year which was met with widespread disapproval by many of the company’s customers. There were complaints that many popular features had been left out of the update, while others complained of faulty firmware updates and some even saying their speakers had been rendered unusable.
The road to recovering the trust of the Sonos customer base has been a tough one but Conrad has achieved notable progress while leading the company as its interim CEO since January, 2025. He set new standards for the quality of the Sonos software updates and the overall product experience. He also presided over a new product pipeline with the launch of innovative new software enhancements to flagship products like Sonos Ace and Arc Ultra.
“Since the beginning of this year, we’ve reestablished clarity, focus, and momentum at Sonos. We’ve dramatically improved our software products and recommitted to delivering the kind of premium experience our customers expect,” said Tom Conrad. “We’re just getting started. The opportunity in front of us is enormous and I’m so excited to move from rebuilding to imagining the next generation of experiences: more immersive, more intelligent, and more seamlessly integrated into our customers’ lives.”
Tom Conrad has served on the Sonos board of directors since 2017 and has over three decades of experience in the consumer technology sector. Previously, he served as CEO of Zero Longevity Science, where he drove growth for its subscription digital health platform. Prior to that, he served as the chief product officer of Quibi, a short form streaming service where he helped build the team and product from scratch. Conrad was also vice president of product at Snap Inc., where he oversaw innovations that solidified Snapchat as a leader in the social media landscape. At the start of his career, Tom worked at Apple and built the foundational user interface of the Macintosh. He holds a B.S.E. in computer engineering from the University of Michigan.
