Banking services fintech startup welcomes VP of Compliance, VP of Customer Success, VP of Marketing, and VP of Engineering
Synapse, a fintech company that increases access to best-in-class financial services products, announced today that four new senior leaders have joined its executive team to support the company’s growth. Collectively, these new hires will empower Synapse to expand its offering while embracing direct regulation and oversight at scale. Joining the team:
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- Sheetal Parikh, Vice President of Compliance
- Lauren Larson Diehl, Vice President of Customer Success
- Michelle O’Connor, Vice President of Marketing
- Brad Post, Vice President of Engineering
Synapse, described as the “AWS of banking,” makes it faster and easier for fintech companies to launch and scale a wide range of financial services products to their customers, from foundational services such as checking accounts and debit cards, to credit cards and personal loan offerings. Synapse’s client roster includes Mercury, Cadre, and YottaSavings. These hires follow impressive growth for Synapse, which has seen active users double over the past year.
“As we prepare to expand our product offering into regulated areas, we must match our hiring efforts to our ambitions,” said Sankaet Pathak, CEO of Synapse. “With leaders like Sheetal, Lauren, Michelle, and Brad on the executive team, I’m confident that we are well-positioned for the next phase of growth. We continue to set a precedent for flexibility, speed, and ability to scale and will continue to do so as we build an even more robust product offering for our customers.”
In 2019, Synapse processed over $14B in payments, following its Series A and Series B funding rounds held in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The company has raised $50 million to date, led by Andreessen Horowitz, Trinity Ventures, and Core Innovation Capital.
Synapse’s New Executive Hires
Sheetal Parikh, VP of Compliance
Sheetal brings fifteen years of experience in legal and compliance in the financial services industry. Most recently, she was the Senior Director of Compliance and Regulatory Counsel at PLS Financial Services, a consumer financial services retailer. In that role, she oversaw the entire regulatory compliance and risk functions including direct regulatory relationships and examinations. Under Sheetal’s guidance, PLS built its key financial product lines, including lending, card issuance, and other money transmission products. At Synapse, Parikh will oversee end-to-end regulatory compliance functions as the company expands its offers to include broker-dealer activities and lending.
Lauren Larson Diehl, VP of Customer Success
Lauren comes with 20 years’ experience in enterprise customer success management. Her most recent role at Oracle was Senior Director, Global Customer Success Management, where she ensured the integrity of Oracle’s global strategy for international enterprise customers. Diehl will lead all of Synapse’s customer-facing teams, including Customer Success and Customer Service and Implementation.
Michelle O’Connor, VP of Marketing
Michelle was previously VP of Marketing and Community at digital money platform Uphold, where she developed and implemented the brand’s marketing strategy, and facilitated Uphold’s online community. She also managed public relations, content marketing and development, and social media strategy. Before Uphold, O’Connor was the Creative Director of MWQpr, where she developed and implemented multi-channel strategies to build brand awareness and loyalty for her clients, including lifestyle brands, small businesses, Orion Labs (Explore Ruby), and Apollo Education Group. At Synapse, O’Connor will spearhead marketing and community building, and elevate Synapse’s brand in fintech and the traditional banking sphere.
Brad Post, VP of Engineering
Brad brings nearly three decades of experience in delivering high-caliber cloud and software products for Microsoft, Apple and ShiedAI. In this role, he will leverage his deep experience in building resilient and robust products to further develop Synapse’s banking and financial services. He will lead the company’s backend, frontend, machine learning, and engineering services teams with the shared goal of delivering high-quality products and services to Synapse’s customers that scale with their growing needs.
