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Wes Smithe is the CEO and Co-Founder of Direct. Wes has over 10 years of experience in the vacation rental industry. Prior to Direct, they were the Co-Founder & CEO of Vaystays, a global B2C marketplace that consolidated professionally managed vacation rental inventory. Wes also served as a Licensed Broker at Thurston Wyatt Real Estate and was responsible for GamedayHousing, a niche vacation rental marketplace + property management company that helps college football fans have as memorable an experience as possible by renting a house instead of a hotel.

Smithe began their career in the advertising industry as an Account Manager at Leo Burnett. Wes then moved to FCB Global where they worked in Sales and Marketing for a short time before being promoted to Media Buying. Wes eventually returned to Account Management where they spent two years working on various accounts.

Smithe’s experience in the vacation rental industry and their background in advertising make him uniquely qualified to lead Direct. Under their leadership, the company has quickly become one of the most popular vacation rental platforms in the world.

Some direct reports include Lauren Flaugher - VP of Product, Jeff Latham - Head of Implementation, and Jake Bills - Full Stack Engineer.