Leadership team at the country’s first nationally-chartered, all-digital bank reflects the diversity of all Americans
Varo Bank, the first all-digital nationally chartered bank in the US, today announced three new appointments to its executive leadership team, including Shishir Singhania as Chief Lending Officer, Pepe Porrata as Chief Operations Officer, and Carolyn Feinstein as Chief Marketing, Growth, and Design Officer. These new hires reflect Varo’s growth as it expands its premium financial services to all Americans, its ability to attract top talent from the banking and tech industries, as well as the bank’s core commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Attracting world-class talent who bring a diverse lived experience has been a foundational part of Varo’s company culture from the outset. Varo’s executive leadership team is comprised of 40% female, 50% non-white and 10% LGBTQIA+ individuals – in all 75% of Varo’s executive team is diverse. Similarly, over 75% of Varo’s nine-member Board of Directors are diverse. The diversity of Varo’s leadership and employees are a direct reflection of the diversity of the communities that Varo serves and is foundational to its commitment to building “A Bank for All of Us.”
“Varo provides financial services for a diverse group of Americans, and it is imperative that our whole company – the leadership team, our Board, and our employees – reflect that diversity,” said Colin Walsh, founder and CEO of Varo. “I am excited to welcome three remarkable leaders – Shishir, Pepe and Carolyn – to the Varo team to help us expand our product offering and market leadership in bringing innovative new financial services and solutions to those who need it most.”
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Shishir Singhania has more than 15 years of lending experience and expertise in national lending businesses across auto loans, credit cards, and mortgages. He will help accelerate the development of Varo’s lending products and services, a critical element to Varo’s overall growth strategy, and a key financial need for customers. Mr. Singhania was most recently GM of Capital One’s digital auto lending business where he worked to make auto loans more accessible by bringing the entire car buying journey online. He has also served as VP of New Product Initiatives at Lending Club.
“Just in the last 6 months since getting the bank charter, Varo has already established a remarkable track record of credit product innovation with Varo Advance* and Varo Believe**,” Singhania said. “I am thrilled to join the Varo team and advance our lending program to meet more of the core credit needs of American consumers.”
Pepe Porrata brings over 20 years of experience leading operations, risk, and enterprise transformation teams. He will help lead Varo’s continued investment in its world-class operations platform across customer care, fraud and disputes, deposit and payments, reporting, and back-office operations. This platform helps to support Varo’s industry-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) rating relative to other national and regional banks. Mr. Porrata was most recently the Head of Enterprise Operations Control Strategy for Programs and Transformation at Wells Fargo. He has held a number of senior leadership roles at Capital One across operations, risk, and enterprise transformation. He previously served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy.
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“I am very excited to be joining Varo and continue to invest in its world-class operations and customer service platform,” Porrata said. “From the outset, Varo’s customer first ethos has but our customers at the core and we want to continue to be a digital bank that is there for our customers throughout their financial journey.”
Carolyn Feinstein joins Varo with over 25 years of experience in marketing leadership and customer growth and acquisition. For more than a year she served as Chair of Varo’s Marketing Advisory Board, and in this new role will oversee the Varo marketing organization which includes Design, Customer Growth, Brand and Communications. Ms. Feinstein previously served as Dropbox’s Chief Marketing Officer, where she helped drive initiatives to develop the company’s iconic brand and successfully execute the company’s IPO. She also led Global Marketing at Electronic Arts for over a decade.
“Varo is a truly unique company in its ability to use technology to reimagine banking and build a more inclusive system,” said Feinstein. “We have an opportunity to deliver on the promise of financial inclusion for millions of Americans.”
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