diff --git a/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.cpp b/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.cpp
index 4dd1b9a288..fd025cdafd 100644
--- a/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.cpp
+++ b/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.cpp
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ HTTPSessionAcceptor::HTTPSessionAcceptor(
     std::shared_ptr<HTTPCodecFactory> codecFactory)
     : HTTPAcceptor(accConfig),
       codecFactory_(codecFactory),
-      simpleController_(std::make_shared<SimpleController>(this)) {
+      simpleController_(this) {
   if (!codecFactory_) {
     codecFactory_ =
         std::make_shared<HTTPDefaultSessionCodecFactory>(accConfig_);
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ void HTTPSessionAcceptor::onNewConnection(folly::AsyncTransport::UniquePtr sock,
                                 std::move(sock),
                                 localAddress,
                                 *peerAddress,
-                                controller.get(),
+                                controller,
                                 std::move(codec),
                                 tinfo,
                                 sessionInfoCb);
diff --git a/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.h b/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.h
index 9c5cadda54..b2c1415e43 100644
--- a/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.h
+++ b/proxygen/lib/http/session/HTTPSessionAcceptor.h
@@ -100,8 +100,8 @@ class HTTPSessionAcceptor
    * override this function to provide their own more sophisticated
    * controller here.
    */
-  virtual std::shared_ptr<HTTPSessionController> getController() {
-    return simpleController_;
+  virtual HTTPSessionController* getController() {
+    return &simpleController_;
   }
 
   HTTPSessionStats* downstreamSessionStats_{nullptr};
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ class HTTPSessionAcceptor
 
   std::shared_ptr<HTTPCodecFactory> codecFactory_{};
 
-  std::shared_ptr<SimpleController> simpleController_;
+  SimpleController simpleController_;
 
   HTTPSession::InfoCallback* sessionInfoCb_{nullptr};