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BFD Expert Voices - Private Credit

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Shashank Saxena joined Sierra Ventures in April as managing partner to lead enterprise software investments. Sierra Ventures is an early-stage venture firm with over $2 billion of assets under management.

Why it matters: AI is allowing for more efficient and comprehensive data analysis, in turn supporting enterprise software's automation and ability to uncover patterns and offer recommendations.

Zoom in: When systems of records were initially moved to the cloud, Saxena saw publicly traded companies created to aid that migration.

The next set of apps, Saxena says, no matter the space or domain, will need an element of infused intelligence or machine learning to compete with the market.

📍 How he got here: Saxena co-founded and was CEO of VNDLY, a vendor management system acquired by Workday in 2021 for $510 million. Before that, Saxena led digital applications at Citibank and digital and e-commerce at Kroger.

📈 Trend spot: As companies integrate machine learning AI into their products, engagement data measuring use and behavioral patterns will be needed. Take e-commerce companies that focus on personalizing shopping experiences at an individual level.

"The companies that think about integration frameworks and how to get the right data to train the models to build that experience for the customer — those are the companies we feel will win the market," Saxena says.

💼 First job: Stocking shelves at a Target in Woodland Hills, California.

1 big thing: Shashank Saxena named managing partner at Sierra Ventures

Photo illustration of Shashank Saxena next to graphic diagonal lines.

Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photo courtesy of Sierra Ventures

Mohsin Siddiqui was named CEO of Wahed, a Shariah-compliant roboadviser. He was previously CRO at ComplyAdvantage. https://axios.link/3TZj6IL

Ben Peters was named CEO at ConnexPay, and founder Bob Kaufman was appointed chairman of the board of directors. https://axios.link/3vFtZ9o

Sylvain Mansier, previously VP for strategy and GM for retailer incentives and loyalty at Inmar Intelligence, was named CEO of Punchey. https://axios.link/3xjy8QW

Damian Bunce, former chief commercial officer at Saxo Bank, joined GTN as regional CEO for the Middle East. https://axios.link/43XBntp

Elisa Alonso Sanz was named CEO of Deutsche Borse-backed Kneip, taking over from Enrique Sacau. axios.link/3TOZDct

Steve Vickers, former Thunes CEO, was named CEO of Pomelo Group. axios.link/3PYhM6B

Phil Cotter was named CEO at SmartSearch. It comes after a majority investment by Triple Private Equity. https://axios.link/3Qe6yv3

Jean-Pierre Brulard was named CEO at Temenos. He was vice president at VMWare. axios.link/3w62mX9

Amy Butte, former NYSE CFO, was named audit committee chair at Navan. Rich Liu, its former chief revenue officer, was named CEO of Navan Travel. axios.link/44c5r4C

Michael J. Stanton was named CEO at Comply, taking over from Amy Kadomatsu, who will become board adviser. He was previously an operating partner at FTV Capital. axios.link/49UaPuD

Jeff Heine was named chief revenue officer at Novidea. He was previously CRO at Betterview. novidea.com

Jeffrey Guy was named president and COO at Veriff. He was previously COO at DigitalOcean. https://axios.link/3xf1S16

Gaby Kozakov, formerly VP of research and development at Revuze, was named CTO at Versapay. https://axios.link/3vNh9ps

Sandeep Bapat, formerly with Trifecta Capital, was named co-chief investment officer and senior partner at Singularity Growth. https://axios.link/4agPmNb

Raphael Bres, former chief product officer at Tradeshift, returned as chief product and technology officer. https://axios.link/4aIOG2T

Monica Jasuja, a board member of the Merchant Risk Council and Global Impact Fintech Forum, joined Twid as chief growth and partnership officer. https://axios.link/3J2DrXx

Georgio Anastasi was named CFO of FullCircl, succeeding Steve Blundell, who will transition to a non-executive position. axios.link/3JxmAMR

Paul Gallant was named CPO of Hazeltree. He was previously head of post-trade product management at BlackRock. axios.link/4489C1l

Rob Pettman was named CRO and president at Tifin. He was previously executive vice president of wealth management solutions at LPL Financial. axios.link/3UhiTku

Alexandra Johnson was named chief payments officer at Nium. She was previously head of new product development and innovation in global transaction services at Bank of America. https://axios.link/49MlQOk

Ed Neumann was named CFO at Versapay. He was previously Shopkeep's CFO. https://axios.link/49Kjakh

Aaron Schnarch was named the first COO at Anchorage Digital. He was previously CEO of coinbase custody and VP of product management at Coinbase Global. https://axios.link/3UpZPk3

Lisa Larson was named chief strategy officer at Percy.ai. She was previously managing director at Restb.ai. axios.link/49NvPDf

Ellen Linardi, former product and design exec at Clover, joined Synctera as chief product and technology officer. And Synctera co-founder Dominik Weisserth was named chief banking officer. axios.link/4dhG2dY

Swati Bhatia, former head of Goldman Sachs' Marcus business, was hired at Santander's US arm to head up retail operations and lead a digital transformation program. https://axios.link/3vxRW2r

Jason Van joined Australian auto-focused payments platform AutoSettle. https://axios.link/49rD0ka

Valid8 Financial named Christina Mautz EVP for marketing and Brett Suchor EVP for strategic partnerships. https://axios.link/4cM66O0

Michael Schwartz joined Houlihan Lokey as a managing director of capital markets. He previously was with Lazard. hl.com

Wise hired Shane Fitzgerald from Revolut as UK head of internal audit. It also hired Anurag Agnihotri as an "engineering leader" from Binance. axios.link/4aQzq43

Renata Caine was named GM of Banking as a Service at Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT). She was previously a consulting advisor to Point72 Ventures. axios.link/3w3hfcG

Michael Lacapria was named a director at Payzli. He was previously CFO at Esquire Financial Holdings, an investor in Payzli. axios.link/3TVYOyJ

Keith Munns joined Adyen as VP of product for its generative AI/data platform. He was previously head of product of e-bike provider Lime. axios.link/4aT0MqA

Rishi Sachdeva was named head of fintech at Gigs. He was previously head of GTM partnerships at Stripe. axios.link/3Q0JZcY

Matt Boss was named head of U.S. consumer banking at TD Bank. He was previously in charge of its credit card and unsecured lending portfolios. https://axios.link/3QcdrwH

David Derigiotis was named president of brokerage and head of insurance at Flow, formerly known as Capitola. He was previously chief insurance officer at Embroker. flowspecialty.com

Rob Freiman and Kegan Greene were hired from Jefferies as managing directors on Piper Sandler's technology investment banking team. https://axios.link/3UkedZM

Ravi Kaushik was named executive director, head of Asia investments, for Flourish Ventures. https://axios.link/3JAAQEu

Atul Dubey was named general manager of the finance, risk and regulatory reporting business at Wolters Kluwer. Suzanne Konstance will succeed Dubey as general manager of legal and regulatory U.S. axios.link/4bg14b0 

Ewuradjoa Gadzanku joined Stanley Capital Partners as principal for its strategy team. stanley-capital.com

💼 New hires

Greg Hendrick, CEO of Vantage Group, was appointed to the board of directors at Verisk. https://axios.link/3U21yMa

Claudia Merkle, an advisory board member of HomeLend, was appointed to the board of Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN). https://axios.link/3VILjVJ

Charles "Chip" Roame, managing partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors, joined Apex Fintech Solutions' board of directors. axios.link/4atB38c

🗳️ Elections and appointments

Mark Hartigan was promoted to executive chairman and CEO of Wefox, and co-founder Julian Teicke will transition to president and remain vice chair of the board of directors. axios.link/3xufHsM

📢 Promotions

Carla Leibold was terminated as CFO from Customers Bancorp over a company violation. She disputes the characterization. axios.link/443WgmP

Scott Case, Truist's chief information officer, was replaced in the interim by Brad Bender, head of enterprise operational services. Chief audit officer Denise DeMaio also departed. axios.link/3xMbtwK

Checkr, an employee background check startup valued at $5b in April 2022, laid off 382 employees, or about a third of its workforce. axios.link/4aQdWUW

Happy Money laid off 89 employees, about 40% of staff. axios.link/43WoRdC

Morgan Stanley plans to cut about 50 investment-banking jobs in the APAC region this week, with 80% of the cuts in China and Hong Kong. axios.link/3xFilfh

🛫 Departures and layoffs

Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC, is set to retire after five years in the role. https://axios.link/4aTA6pZ

🔔 Announcements

Welcome to the April edition! Axios Pro Deals research associate Natalie Breymeyer here with your monthly recap of who's working where now.

Did you or a friend recently change jobs? Let us know. Get wind of layoffs somewhere? Tell us. How do you tell us? Hit reply.

Read below to find New hires; Elections and appointments; Promotions; and Departures.

📥 Your opinion matters to us. Please share your thoughts by replying to this email.

There you have it. Make sure to continue sending us your personnel-related news throughout the month.

🧛 Natalie closed out April by reliving her middle school years and watching "Twilight" in theaters. The event featured an introduction from the movie's director and after a rewatch on the big screen, Natalie can confidently say she remains Team Edward.

May 04, 2024

1 big thing: Shashank Saxena named managing partner at Sierra Ventures