MeridianLink Inc., which provides software for credit unions and other financial firms, has made two key changes in its corporate hierarchy.
Larry Katz, who joined the Costa Mesa-based company (NYSE: MLNK) as chief financial officer on April 1, has become the president of the company.
Katz has served in various leadership positions, including CFO roles, at both private and public companies. His experience includes StubHub, Genesys, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and The Walt Disney Co.
“Larry’s extensive experience in banking and consumer lending, coupled with his leadership of SaaS companies at scale, gives me great confidence in his ability to lead our commercial efforts,” said MeridianLink CEO Nicolaas Vlok in a statement on Aug. 8.
“Larry has done an exceptional job integrating into our company, building confidence and trust with our customers, partners and employees.”
The newly created president role covers all customer-facing, commercial aspects of the business, including the go-to-market, services and customer support functions.
Chris Maloof will step down as president, go-to-market, with his last day on Aug. 31, according to the statement.
The company said “there is no backfill to the president go-to-market role.”
CFO Olmeta
In the other move, Elias Olmeta joined MeridianLink as chief financial officer on Aug. 26.
He served as chief financial officer of Mitchell International, a provider of SaaS solutions to the automotive and insurance industry, and most recently at Vistage Worldwide, a subscription based professional services business.
Shares in MeridianLink are down about 13% so far this year and were trading at $21.67 apiece for a market cap of $1.6 billion on Aug. 20.
MeridianLink says its software “empowers financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies to drive efficient growth.” It provides cloud-based digital lending, account opening, background screening and data verification solutions.
It now counts about 2,000 customers.
Tim Nguyen, a co-founder of MeridianLink, received a 2021 Innovator of the Year Award from the Business Journal.
That prompted the following praise from CEO Vlok: “He’s an initial inspiration and drives spark in this company, and we are pleased that his continuing innovation and business acumen received well deserved recognition. Congratulations, Tim.”
When the company went public in 2021, the stock soared higher than $28 each and hovered around a $2 billion market cap.
Nguyen was born in Vietnam and lived in a refugee camp for six years in the 1980s before eventually landing in Huntington Beach where his great-aunt sponsored his family.
After he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information and computer science from the University of California, Irvine in 1998, he co-founded MeridanLink, which provides software to credit unions and small banks so that they can compete with larger financial entities.
Nguyen is now the company’s chief strategy officer.
