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Management Team
Chris Larsen
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
For over a decade Chris Larsen has focused on using the Internet to make consumer lending more efficient, fair, honest, open, and trustworthy.
Prior to Prosper, Mr. Larsen co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of E-LOAN. Under Mr. Larsen's leadership, E-LOAN closed over $27 billion in consumer loans, and was consistently ranked as one of the nation's most trusted consumer brands. E-LOAN earned consumers' trust by taking radically pro-consumer actions such as being the first company to provide consumers with access to their credit scores, and playing a critical role in the passage of the strongest consumer financial privacy protection law in the nation. Mr. Larsen led E-LOAN through a successful IPO in 1999, and oversaw the company's acquisition by Popular, Inc. in 2005.
Mr. Larsen holds an M.B.A. degree from Stanford University and a B.S. degree from San Francisco State University, where he was named the 2004 Alumnus of the Year.
John Witchel
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder
Mr. Witchel is a veteran entrepreneur whose expertise in massively scaleable architectures and high-performance computing helped spawn a number of successful start-up companies.
As a technology visionary, he is responsible for the breakthrough phenomenon of FlashMob Supercomputing, a massive computing collaboration designed to make supercomputing available to the masses.
Prior to co-founding Prosper, Mr. Witchel developed BrowserCam, a patent-pending online tool for testing the cross-browser compatibility of websites. He was also CEO and co-founder of Red Gorilla, a pioneer in online application syndication. Prior to Red Gorilla, he founded XCom Corporation, a leading web consultancy that was acquired by USWeb/CKS, where Mr. Witchel served as a managing partner.
He holds a M.S. from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University. He is a former American record holder and NCAA champion in swimming.
Ed Giedgowd
Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel
Mr. Giedgowd brings over 22 years of experience in dealing with consumer credit issues to his role at Prosper Marketplace, Inc. Most recently, he served as General Counsel at E-LOAN from October 1999 until June of 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Giedgowd was the head of the consumer finance practice group at the San Francisco law firm of Severson & Werson P.C., where he practiced for 17 years. With Severson & Werson P.C. he specialized in all aspects of consumer finance law, including regulatory compliance, mortgage and auto finance, licensing, the development of multistate direct and indirect lending programs. He earned a J.D. from Boston College in 1982 and a BA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1978.
Kirk Inglis
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Inglis brings over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry to Prosper Marketplace. Throughout his career, he has been successful at improving the operating performance of businesses by creating a focus on core variables and improving the productivity of resources.
Most recently he consulted Wells Fargo Bank on the effectiveness of their online marketing programs. Prior to that, Mr. Inglis spent 9 years with Providian Financial Corporation. While at Providian, he was President of First Select Corporation, the largest purchaser of charged-off credit card debt in the United States. In addition, he served as Chief Financial Officer of GetSmart.com following its acquisition by Providian. Mr. Inglis also developed the financial planning and control infrastructure for Providian Financial Corporation following the spin-off from its parent in 1996.
Mr. Inglis earned a MBA in Finance from Memphis State University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco.
Catherine Muriel
Chief Marketing Officer
Over the last two decades Catherine Muriel has successfully applied her analytical, branding, and positioning expertise at premier financial and consumer product companies.
Ms. Muriel most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer of E-LOAN, a leading online consumer direct lender providing mortgage, home equity, auto loans and online savings. Prior to E-LOAN, she served as Chief Marketing Officer of Upromise, the country's largest private college savings loyalty service. Ms. Muriel has also served in executive level positions at AXA Financial, Prudential Financial and Citigroup's credit card division. She began her career with Lowe & Partners Advertising where her clients included Coca-Cola, Gillette, Nabisco and Citi.
Ms. Muriel holds a law degree from The London School of Economics.
Chris Denend
Vice President of Engineering
As vice president of engineering at Prosper, Mr. Denend oversees all product management and software development that comprise the Prosper borrower and lender experience. Prior to joining Prosper, he spent more than 7 years in executive engineering roles at Macromedia, a leader in multimedia authoring and web development software. Specifically, he managed the engineering team for Contribute, a web site editing tool for the consumer market. Under his leadership, Contribute won several ease of use design awards. He was also a manager on the Dreamweaver and UltraDev teams. Dreamweaver is the leading professional visual HTML authoring tool. Mr. Denend earned a BA in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Doug Fuller
Vice President of Operations
For over two decades Doug Fuller has been a leader in data driven operations management and process optimization with a specialty in collections and risk-management.
Most recently he served as Chief Research Officer at Credigy, a provider of receivables management services focused on the purchase and servicing of distressed receivables. Prior to Credigy, Dr. Fuller served as a principal consultant for Priority Perspective, where his clients included Credigy, GE Card Systems, Ontario Systems, and Thornton Capital Advisors. Prior to his consultancy, he served as Senior Vice President at First Select Corporation/Providian Financial where he led the development and implementation of collection and recovery management systems. In addition, he led Providian's fraud management activities including detection and prevention of transactional fraud and identity theft.
Dr. Fuller has served as an advisor for the Visa International Fraud Executive Committee, TransUnion Risk Management Panel, Ontario Systems – Artiva Advisory Group, Intelligent Results – Predigy Advisory Group, and Royal Media – Collection Technology Summit. He holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and a B.I.E. with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Thomas Pigoski
Chief Security Officer
As Chief Security Officer, Mr. Pigoski oversees the strategic development and operation of Prosper's Information Security and Fraud Prevention systems. He is responsible for insuring the privacy of customer data and the safety of the marketplace.
Prior to joining Prosper, Mr. Pigoski was an information security consultant for AMI and Ecast Incorporated where he was responsible for the development and operations of secure, internet-based music delivery systems. Prior to that, he developed and managed systems and network infrastructure for Fedex, Rockwell, and several start-up companies.
Mr Pigoski holds a BS from Stanford University and an MS from University of Florida. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and a member of ISSA, ASIS, and the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA).
Investors and Directors
Jim Breyer, Director
Accel Partners
At Accel, Mr. Breyer has been responsible for more than twenty-five investments in companies that successfully completed public offerings or mergers. These include Actuate, Agile Software, Centillion (acquired by Bay Networks), Centrum (acquired by 3Com), Claremont, Collabra (acquired by Netscape), Corsair (acquired by Lightbridge Communications), Foundry Networks, Hyperion Solutions (formerly Arbor Software), Lightspan/Plato Learning, Macromedia, Microprose, Motive, Narrative (acquired by @Home), RealNetworks, RedBack Networks, Synopsys, and Walmart.com. Recent mergers include Alphablox with IBM and Groove Networks with Microsoft.
In addition to his involvement with a number of private companies and many academic and industry associations, Mr. Breyer currently sits on the Board of Directors at RealNetworks and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., where he is the Chairman of the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. and from Harvard University with an M.B.A. where he was named a Baker Scholar.
Larry Cheng, Director
Fidelity Ventures
Larry Cheng focuses on investment opportunities in Internet applications, information services, financial services and consumer technologies. Larry currently serves on the boards of Prosper, MFG.com, eCredit and mindSHIFT. He is also a Board observer on The New Orleans Exchange. Larry previously led Fidelity Ventures' investment in Verid which was acquired by EMC. Prior to joining Fidelity Ventures, Larry was a senior associate at Battery Ventures, where he was an early investor in Ruckus Network, OpenNetwork Technologies (acquired by BMC Software) and Ximian (acquired by Novell). From 1998 to 2000, he was an associate for Bessemer Venture Partners where he focused on software investments. Prior to Bessemer, Larry was an associate consultant at Corporate Decisions Inc.
Mr. Cheng earned a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard College.
Paul Hazen, Director
After a 30-year career with Wells Fargo & Co., Paul Hazen retired in 2001 as the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Currently, Mr. Hazen serves as Director and Chairman of KKR Financial and Accel-KKR, and as Senior Advisor to KKR. In addition, Mr. Hazen serves as Deputy Chairman and Director of Vodafone, Plc., Lead Director of Safeway, Inc., and Director of Xstrata Plc. and Willis Group Ltd.
Mr. Hazen attended Amherst College and earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Arizona and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Bob Kagle, Director
Benchmark Capital
Mr. Kagle is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of venture capital investment experience. Over the past two decades he has made investments in several companies including AllPosters.com, Ariba, Art.com, eBags, eBay, E-LOAN, Jamba Juice, Potbelly, Synopsys, uShip, and zipRealty. Prior to Benchmark, Mr. Kagle spent 12 years as a General Partner with Technology Venture Investors and also worked for the Boston Consulting Group where he focused on issues of corporate strategy.
He is a past director of the National Venture Capital Association, a past president of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Kettering University. Mr. Kagle earned a BS in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute (renamed Kettering University) and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is also a General Motors Fellow.
Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network is a mission-based investment group committed to fostering individual self-empowerment on a global scale. Established in June 2004 by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, and Pam Omidyar, the Network is founded on the simple core belief that every individual has the power to make a difference.
Omidyar Network funds for-profits and nonprofits that promote equal access to information, tools and opportunities, openness and transparency, collaboration around shared interests, and a sense of ownership for participants. To date, Omidyar Network has created a diverse portfolio that fosters individual self-empowerment across the economic, political and social realms, with investments in areas such as microfinance, open source, citizen journalism and collaboration in the sciences. Through its work, Omidyar Network intends to catalyze a new breed of business for which social impact directly drives profitability.
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