Former Merlin Securities founding partners Stephan and Aaron Vermut and Senior Partner Ron Suber have left the prime brokerage arm of Wells Fargo to join Prosper, the peer-to-peer financing platform.
Vermut joins Prosper as CEO and member of the board of directors. The former founder and managing partner of Merlin Securities succeeds Dawn Lepore, who has served as interim CEO since March 2012.
Ron Suber joins as head of Global Institutional Sales and Aaron Vermut as president.
The three new hires will work closely with the San Francisco-based firms venture capital partner Sequoia Capital, to accelerate Prospers growth. In support of the enhanced team, Sequoia led a $20 million round of financing, which also included participation from all existing investors. Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady will join the Prosper board of directors.
Stephan Vermut joins Prosper from Wells Fargo, where he led the banks first foray into prime brokerage services. At Merlin Securities, Vermut and his team created a prime brokerage service that allowed for a customized approach to managing investment portfolios.
Suber, former managing director at Wells Fargo Securities and head of Global Sales at Merlin Securities, will be responsible for expanding Prospers presence among institutional investors. Prior to Wells Fargo, he spent 14 years at Bear Stearns.
Aaron Vermut, currently managing director and head of Prime Services at Wells Fargo, was also a founder and managing partner at Merlin Securities. As president of Prosper, he will drive the strategic direction of the company. He joins after a transition period with Wells Fargo.
Stephan Vermut said: Ive watched with great interest over the past few years as the peer-to-peer lending industry has grown substantially, and I believe Prosper is in a unique position to offer both borrowers and lenders unprecedented access to financial opportunity. Dawn and her team have attracted impressive talent and created the infrastructure needed to continue to build growth on both sides of the Prosper platform. Im extremely optimistic about the potential for Prosper and the industry in general.”
We’ve made great progress recently as shown by our 100% year over year growth in revenue and loan originations. At the same time, weve also been carefully searching for the right person to lead Prosper as it moves towards its next phase of growth, said Lepore. Steve is a talented leader, as proven by his success in founding and growing Merlin Securities, and he has a unique understanding of how technology can be used to disrupt and ultimately improve the financial services industry.
(JDC)