LendUp Bolsters Leadership Team Across Finance, Engineering, Credit Card Product, InfoSec, And Legal, And Improves Diversity

SAN FRANCISCO, May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LendUp, a fast-growing fintech firm for the emerging middle class, today announced a number of executive hires, including a General Counsel and VP of Engineering, as well as new heads of Capital Markets, Credit Card Product, and Information Security. These appointments will help LendUp expand the scope of its affordable, consumer-friendly products, as it becomes a first-of-its-kind destination for responsible spenders, savers, and strivers.

"LendUp is at an exciting inflection point. We have a burgeoning credit card business, hallmark personal loans, and new steps into savings -- all designed to help creditworthy consumers get on a path to better financial health," said Sasha Orloff, LendUp co-founder and CEO. "These incredibly talented and experienced leaders are evidence of our momentum, and will help take LendUp to the next level on our journey to be the financial services destination for the millions of consumers who've been shut out of or mistreated by mainstream banking."

Fiercely committed to diversity and inclusion in tech, LendUp is an active participant in Ellen Pao's Project Include, sharing data on the company's workforce and contributing to aggregated results that are setting industry standards. Orloff and Jacob Rosenberg, LendUp co-founder and CTO, are also early adopters of Kapor Capital's Founders Commitment and recently joined Founders for Change.

Pia Thompson joined LendUp as General Counsel, where she'll serve on the executive team, lead the company's legal strategy, and work with regulators and other government oversight entities. Thompson has more than 25 years of legal experience, specializing in consumer-facing financial services. Thompson joins LendUp from Chicago, where she was most recently GC at Transworld Systems. Before that Thompson was Deputy GC at Navigant Consulting and served in leadership roles at several national law firms including ReedSmith, Greenberg Traurig, and Dentons. Thompson will report to Orloff.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick joined the company as VP, Engineering, where she'll lead a growing engineering organization executing the company's technical roadmap. Fitzpatrick brings more than 20 years of experience, most recently serving as Vice President of Ecommerce and Store Technology for Gap, Inc., guiding teams that build and scale Gap.com, Banana Republic.com, Old Navy.com and Athleta.com, as well as the in-store technology footprint that supports the multibillion dollar Gap, Inc. Fitzpatrick will report to Rosenberg.

Robert Novick joined LendUp as VP, Capital Markets, bringing more than 30 years of experience in finance and asset securitization. He was most recently Senior Director, Capital Markets & Treasury at Oportun, a provider of affordable loans for those with little or no credit, where he helped manage the company's funding, including the execution of its asset-backed securities. Prior to Oportun, Novick founded Rushmore Capital and served in banking positions at Promontory Asset Finance Company, LLC; ING Capital; and other global financial services firms. Novick will report to LendUp's CFO Bill Donnelly, who joined LendUp last fall from Tesla.

Matt Krogstad, a recognized leader in digital banking, joined the company as Director of Product for LendUp's credit card business, including its Visa L and Arrow Cards. Krogstad most recently founded Root Banking, a startup that aims to deliver brick and mortar 2.0 "phygital" banking to financial institutions. Previously, he served as VP Mobile & Innovation at First Republic Bank, and VP Mobile Banking and Payments at Bank of the West. Krogstad has launched many market-first products and features across financial services access, privacy, and mobile phone camera experiences. Krogstad's products have demonstrated significant growth, tripling adoption among users.

Dana Kaplan joined LendUp as the company's Information Security Lead, where she'll be responsible for the ongoing management and execution of the company's formal Information Security Program. Kaplan joined from P2P payments start-up clearXchange, later acquired by Early Warning, where she managed all security-related governance, risk, and compliance functions. Kaplan previously worked for KPMG, where she led Security Risk Management projects for several financial technology startups and internal controls projects.

These appointments come on the heels of LendUp's recent partnership with national savings nonprofit EARN, and the milestone of saving customers $200 million in interest in fees. In April, LendUp announced it bolstered its Richmond, VA, team, with the addition of Patricia Wooten as People Operations Business Partner and Mike Lempner as Head of Data.

About LendUp

LendUp is a fintech company redefining financial services for the emerging middle class — the half of Americans shut out of, or mistreated by, mainstream banking. By building proprietary software and using machine learning, LendUp looks beyond credit scores to offer credit and savings products to more than 130 million Americans who are rebuilding their credit or just starting out. Named one of the "World's Most Innovative Companies" in 2018 by Fast Company, LendUp is backed by more than $325 million in funding from leading investors such as Y Combinator, GV, PayPal, QED, and many others. With a mission to help anyone get on a path to better financial health, LendUp is creating a first-of-its-kind destination for responsible spenders, savers, and strivers.

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