P2P lender, Prosper Marketplace, has announced it has named former eBay Australia CFO Macy Lee as Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Lee will work closely with CEO Aaron Vermut, Executive Chairman Stephan Vermut, and President Ron Suber to manage the company’s rapid growth and expansion as more people turn to peer-to-peer lending to borrow money to refinance high-interest debt, fund large purchases, as well as invest money in a new asset class that delivers consistent returns. Prosper recently announced it had surpassed $1 billion in loans.
“We’re excited to welcome Macy to the executive team at Prosper Marketplace,” said Vermut. “Macy’s experience as a key leader at eBay Australia, one of the largest eCommerce companies in the world, will be a great asset to Prosper Marketplace. She has a proven track record of helping businesses grow from early stage to established industry leaders, which is a perfect fit for Prosper Marketplace as we look toward another year of significant growth.”
“Prosper Marketplace is at the forefront of bringing greater financial freedom to the masses. The Prosper platform delivers compelling value and convenience to borrowers, and provides a new asset class with attractive risk-adjusted returns to investors,” said Lee. “On top of that, Prosper Marketplace has a passionate management team that has made incredible progress over the past year. I am thrilled to join the team, and I look forward to helping more people realize their financial dreams through the Prosper platform.”
As CFO of eBay Australia, the country’s largest eCommerce site, Macy was responsible for Controllership, FP&A, Strategy, Business Analytics, and Facilities. She was instrumental in helping the company define and execute its business strategy, and consistently delivered competitive, operational and customer insights that drove business results. Before her position as CFO, Macy spent nearly 12 years in various finance and business roles at PayPal and eBay, including Finance Director of the Global Core Payments, Risk Management and Emerging Markets divisions of the company. Prior to her time at eBay and PayPal, Macy held various financial management positions at Oracle, Target, and Sichuan Provincial Economic & Trade Commission in China.
Macy received her MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Southern California, and a BA in International Finance from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics.
In March, Prosper announced the platform crossed $1 billion in loans and achieved its largest month ever in loan originations – $77.3 million. This was up 413% from March 2013, when Prosper reported $15 million in loans. The Prosper platform did a total of $357 million loans in 2013, a 133% increase over 2012 and a 376% increase over 2011.
The Prosper platform connects people who want to invest money with people who want to borrow money. On the Prosper platform, borrowers list loan requests between $2,000 and $35,000, and individual and institutional lenders invest as little as $25 in each loan listing they select. Institutional investors can also elect to participate in the Whole Loan Program.