US fintech Solifi has hired Kevin Smith as chief legal officer, a newly created position.
Smith joins from corporate spend management business Jaggaer, where he was general counsel. He brings more than 25 years of experience advising high-growth and tech companies on strategic legal, risk and transactional matters. At Solifi he will oversee all global legal strategy, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and risk management.
Minneapolis-based Solifi provides secured finance software to banks and other financial institutions to support their lending activities.
Dan Corazzi, CEO of Solifi, said: “Kevin is a proven legal leader who combines strategic business judgement with deep transactional and governance expertise. His experience guiding complex global organisations through growth, transformation and private equity transitions will be instrumental as Solifi continues to scale and strengthen our position as the trusted partner in secured finance.”
Smith spent almost five and a half years at Jaggaer, having previously been senior director for corporate legal at US software business Red Hat. Prior to that he was a counsel at WilmerHale in Washington and an associate at Cooley. Prior to his legal career, he was a captain in the US Army.
He said: “Solifi built a strong foundation as a global technology partner in secured finance. I look forward to helping the company scale responsibly, navigate complexity and support its next phase of growth.”
The company said Smith’s appointment reflects its ongoing investment in leadership to support its growth following a string of acquisitions last year, including lease and loan management tech company Leasepath and car finance risk management business DataScan.
In other in-house finance moves, earlier this month Canadian fintech DeFi Technologies appointed Philippe Lucet as GC, replacing Kenny Choi in the role. Lucet was previously GC at DeFi’s subsidiary Valour.
In February, Goldman Sachs’ CLO Kathy Ruemmler announced her plans to step down from the bank amid scrutiny over her ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
And back in December, crypto payments business MoonPay hired US Commodity Futures Trading Commission acting chair Caroline Pham as CLO, while in the UK, ClearBank hired former Financial Conduct Authority lawyer Angela Roberts as group GC.
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