Meet Kala, Laura, and Tony: three fintech veterans joining Wisetack

Wisetack Team
January 20, 2022
5
min read

At Wisetack, our goal is to build financial products that empower people. Our secret sauce? Our amazing team.

Some of our newest business leaders include a former litigator, a data leader who 18x’ed her team in just over two years, and an operations leader who has owned his own small businesses— all fintech veterans with the experience we need to push our work further. Learn more about what they’ll be working on, why they joined the team, and more below:

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Kala

Kala Sherman-Presser is our new General Counsel. Before joining Wisetack, she headed up the legal functions at several companies, including EarnUp, a fintech in the payments space, and Shift, an e-commerce platform for used car buying and selling. She also spent seven years as a litigator representing clients in high-stakes civil and criminal litigation.

Fortunately, when it came to choosing the next step in her career, Wisetack stood out. “There are a lot of exciting fintechs out there right now, but it’s hard to find one that has the full package,” she explains. “Wisetack has it all — a consumer-friendly product people love, proven product market fit, a scalable distribution channel, and a great team to execute. BNPL is here to stay, and we’re positioned to make a very big impact.”

As our General Counsel, Kala will be designing and building our legal function from the ground up. She will play a key role in shaping strategic decisions and help us balance risk and growth.

When asked what advice she would share with those looking to grow their careers in fintech, Kala emphasizes the importance of long-term relationships and embracing opportunities to step outside of your comfort zone to learn more. When it comes to stepping outside her comfort zone, Kala takes her own advice to heart – she regularly swims in the (very cold) San Francisco Bay – sans wetsuit! We’re thrilled to have Kala on board and can’t wait to see the impact she’ll have at Wisetack. 

Laura

Laura Guilbert is joining us as our new Head of Analytics and will help ensure our business decisions are informed by data. With over 25 years of analytics and data science experience, most recently leading analytics organizations at Chime and PwC, Laura is not only one of our most data-obsessed team members (which is saying a lot — we love data here!), but potentially also one of our most stylish. In fact, she owns more than a dozen pairs of glasses and switches them out almost every day.

Throughout her career, Laura has mentored many people, and her number one piece of advice for anyone looking to grow their career is to look for a company with a great product, great leadership, and values that resonate — all reasons why she decided to join Wisetack. 

For Laura, it was easy to see the impact our product has on our customers’ lives. As Laura puts it, “Wisetack solves real needs. We allow our customers to respond to life, like a plumbing disaster or car fix, that they would not be able to afford otherwise. We solve a real need for our merchants as well by broadening the number of customers they can engage with.”

As for the other qualities she uses to assess companies? “The leaders at Wisetack are tenured, experienced professionals. This is a company that knows its stuff, can build great products, and makes success happen. And when I read our values, I knew I belonged.”

Tony

Tony Tai is our new Head of Customer Experience, and we’re excited for him to use his 20+ years of operations management experience to help us improve the lives of our customers.

Before joining Wisetack, Tony spent five years at LendingClub as the Senior Director of Operations, where he led and scaled the Credit and Fraud Operations team and then built out the Operations Innovation and Execution team.

While customer experience professionals don’t necessarily need to relate to the customers they’re helping to excel at their job, it can certainly help. We knew Tony would be a great fit for this role because not only does he have the relevant technical experience, but he also understands and relates to two of our main types of customers: small business owners and homeowners.

Before pivoting to operations management, Tony started his career as a small business owner operating two franchise stores, which is one of the reasons why he decided to join Wisetack. “When I was a small business owner, it was challenging to offer products and services at reasonable prices. Setting up convenient methods for consumers to pay was also a challenge,” he shares. “Wisetack helps small business owners by giving them a fast and convenient way for their clients to be able to afford the service they provide.”

As a homeowner, real estate investor, and home renovations enthusiast who gutted and fully remodeled two houses by himself last year, Tony also understands how difficult it is for homeowners to obtain affordable financing to get unexpected, often major repairs done. As such, he understood both our product and purpose right away. “The demand for a product that helps homeowners spread payments out over time, at a fair rate , quickly and conveniently is what inspired me to join Wisetack,” he adds.

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All three of these fintech veterans are incredible additions to the team, and we’re honored they’ve joined us in our mission to give people a better way to afford what they need. While we’ve already helped thousands of businesses, we know there’s still a ton of work to be done and are excited these three will help shepherd Wisetack into the next phase of our journey.

Interested in working with world-class leaders like Kala, Laura, and Tony? We’re always looking for people to join the team! You can check out our open roles here.

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