Marqeta names Stripe alum as CFO

Dive Brief:

• Card issuing platform Marqeta appointed Stripe alum Patti Kangwankij to the role of CFO, effective Feb. 9, to help the company enhance profitability and drive growth, according to a Wednesday press release.  
• Kangwankij’s expertise in the payments space and financial leadership will be a “critical asset as we continue to execute our strategy, scale our platform, and enable customer innovation in card issuing,” CEO Mike Milotich said in the release. “Patti is the right leader to guide our finance organization and help accelerate our momentum and capture the significant opportunities ahead.”
• The CFO appointment comes four months after Oakland, California-based Marqeta announced its search for the role, following the appointment of Milotich, its finance chief, as CEO in September.  

Dive Insight:

Kangwankij will be joining the card and embedded payments firm from Roofstock, a real estate technology business backed by venture firms including SoftBank, Invesco and Bain Capital Ventures. She has served as Roofstock CFO for about a year, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Kangwankij logged a four-year span at Stripe in such roles as head of payments finance and strategy, as well as serving 14 years at JPMorgan, where she worked in senior positions that included managing director and CFO, merchant services and managing director and CFO, co-branded credit card business. 

Milotich has held the dual positions of CEO and CFO since assuming the top executive seat on an interim basis last February.

The Stripe veteran is joining Marqeta at a “pivotal moment,” she said in a statement included in the Wednesday release. The company has taken several steps to diversify revenue and foster continued growth over the past year amid stiff competition in the credit card space.

Kangwankij is set to receive an annual base salary of $475,000, and will be eligible for a target bonus opportunity up to 75% of her base salary, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. She is also eligible to receive a one-time discretionary sign-on bonus of $250,000, contingent on her being employed by Marqeta for at least a year.

Kangwankij will also receive a restricted stock unit award with an approximate value of nearly $6 million, set to vest over a three-year period, and will be granted performance stock units with an estimated value of $2.5 million.

Marqeta has honed its focus on embedded finance — tools which integrate payment options into other digital functions — and targeted expansion in key areas such as Europe. In February, the company announced it would acquire European money transfer business TransactPay for about $47 million.

Marqeta closed that acquisition in August, according to a company release.

In November, Marqeta announced an expanded partnership with card network Visa and Klarna Group, the buy now, pay later provider, to support Klarna’s debit card product in Europe.  

Marqeta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.