An accomplished leader, C-Suite executive, and corporate board member, Simone Wu has over 30 years of experience in technology, telecommunications, travel, hospitality, and franchising. She brings a pragmatic global perspective as well as a blend of business, strategic, legal, and governance skills gained from her experience with wide-ranging entities from Fortune 500 public companies to start-ups to not-for-profit associations and organizations.

Ms. Wu currently serves on the board of directors of Alarm.com (Nasdaq: ALRM), a leading platform for the intelligently connected property, and is a member of the Compensation Committee. She is also senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and external affairs for Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest and most successful lodging franchisors, with 22 brands, more than 7,500 hotels, and nearly 650,000 rooms in 46 countries and territories.

At Choice Hotels, Ms. Wu is an integral member of the C-Suite and currently leads the legal, corporate secretary, risk management, and government affairs functions. During her tenure with the company, she has also leveraged her broad-based background and expertise to lead procurement services, corporate communications, public and media relations, and serve as chief compliance officer.

Prior to joining Choice Hotels in 2012, Ms. Wu served as executive vice president, general counsel and administration overseeing the legal, public policy, and human resources teams for XO Communications (since acquired by Verizon), a leading nationwide provider of advanced IP communications, managed network, and IT infrastructure services. Previously, Ms. Wu led the international legal team at MCI (since acquired by Verizon), negotiated technology transactions as part of the AOL Business Affairs function, and held key roles in two technology start-ups. She began her legal career practicing corporate and communications law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Ms. Wu also currently serves on the boards of directors of Reading is Fundamental (RIF), an organization committed to creating a nation of lifelong readers by inspiring the joy of reading, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the largest hotel association in the U.S. representing all segments of the industry. She previously served on the boards of the International Franchise Association (IFA); Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA); Association of Corporate Counsel – National Capital Region (ACC-NCR); and The Inkwell, a resource for new play development.

Ms. Wu has frequently been recognized as a business and legal leader, including by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (In-House Diversity Leadership Award 2023); Corporate Counsel Women of Color (Diamond Award 2021); the Financial Times (The FT Global General Counsel Report 2020); WomenInc. (Top Corporate Counsel Women 2019); the Washington Business Journal (Women Who Mean Business Award 2018); and the National Law Journal (America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel 2016). She earned her undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Michigan, with high distinction and high honors, and her law degree from Columbia University where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.