June Ou, SoFi’s CTO and VP of Engineering, will depart the online lender. The move is not completely unexpected as Ou is also the wife of ousted founder Mike Cagney who ignominiously left the firm under a cloud opprobrium.
Reuters first reported the news last night and stated that Ou’s exact date of departure was uncertain but it was imminent.
SoFi has experienced a tough couple of months. Initially, the battering surfaced as reports of sexual harassment and an unprofessional work environment cropped – along with the inevitable law suit. The drums started pounding more loudly when Cagney himself was allegedly the chief culprit. The entire Fintech industry was aghast that one of the leading platforms in the digitization of finance could operate in such a fashion. The high profile exit of Cagney, and multiple other executives, added a harsh light to the excesses of the “bro-culture” in Silicon Valley.
While SoFi’s Board may have been slow to act, leadership is attempting to right the ship and get things back on track. It was only several weeks back that chatter was percolating about a forthcoming Initial Public Offering and a banking license being in the works. All those good vibes have been drowned out by a corporate culture that was apparently broken.