CTO, founder, and Microsoft veteran with 20+ years of experience to lead engineering at DigniFi
DigniFi, an automotive financing platform, announced that Kevin Yu has been named Chief Technology Officer. Reporting to CEO Richard Counihan from Seattle, Yu will be responsible for growing DigniFi’s engineering organization, continuously improving product quality, and delivering innovations for customers and partners. Initially, Yu will focus on re-platforming DigniFi to improve the scalability and dynamism of Expressway, a revolving credit line that helps consumers afford auto repairs, upgrades, accessories, and trade-ins.
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Yu joins DigniFi with more than 20 years of experience leading engineering teams at high-growth startups in the Seattle area. He most recently served as CTO of JAXJOX, a fitness technology company, and as co-founder and CTO of Markedly, which helps B2B startups optimize product-market fit.
Earlier in his career, Yu co-founded and served as CTO of Socedo, a venture-backed demand gen platform that was acquired by Azuqua in 2018. Yu also held senior roles with Okta, an identity access and management platform, and Avanade, a digital consultancy majority-owned by Accenture. He began his career with Microsoft, where he worked for a total of 12 years.
“Kevin’s experience in both B2B and B2C roles is critical to DigniFi, as we serve consumers, dealerships, and lenders through our platform,” said DigniFi CEO Richard Counihan. “Having successfully re-platformed multiple companies, Kevin is ready to transform our infrastructure for more scalable, dynamic offerings. We are confident that Kevin can manage this process successfully while enabling us to maintain and build upon sales growth of 200% in 2021.”
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“Most importantly,” added Counihan, “Kevin is aligned with our corporate values and mission. He gets our culture of creating learning and leadership opportunities for each member of his team. He will be a great coach for his employees who already lead projects, make significant decisions, and have real ownership of the outcomes.”
“Throughout my career, I’ve been passionate about innovating technologies for unmet needs and underserved consumers,” said Yu. “DigniFi helps everyday Americas meet their mobility needs by providing access to simple, innovative financing options via artificial intelligence and machine learning. It’s exciting to be part of this journey.”
A prolific learner, Yu holds four degrees: an MBA from University of Washington, a Master’s in Engineering from University of Maryland College Park, a Master’s in Management Science from China’s Peking University, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Beijing Institute of Technology. As President of the Peking University Alumni Association of Washington State and an advisor for the University of Washington China Entrepreneur Network, Yu maintains strong connections to these institutions.
In addition to his work with DigniFi, Yu is an independent board director at WollenDance.com, a SaaS dance and fitness platform. He is also a mentor for both Techstars and The Founder Institute.
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