Wells Fargo appoints new CEO of consumer lending and other staff moves

Wells Fargo appoints new CEO of consumer lending 

Wells Fargo announced in June that Kleber Santos will succeed Mike Weinbach as the bank’s new chief executive of consumer lending.  

Santos will lead all aspects of business under Wells Fargo’s consumer lending umbrella, including home, auto, credit cards, merchant services and personal lending. He previously served as head of diverse segments, representation and inclusion at the bank since November 2020. Santos will also continue serving as a member of the operating committee. 

Prior to his role at Wells Fargo, Santos joined Capital One in 2006 as director and was promoted several times before being named president of retail and direct bank in 2017.  

Nicholas Financial announces CFO extension 

Nicholas Financial has announced that Irina Nashtatik will remain in her role as chief financial officer through June 30, 2024, according to a release. 

Nashtatik joined the lender as a controller in March 2018 before serving as vice president of finance and interim CFO. She was promoted to CFO in July 2020, according to LinkedIn. 

Prior to joining Nick, she spent four years as director of treasury and vice president of finance at Bankers Financial Corporation, as well as two years as a finance manager and assistant vice president at USAmeriBank. 

Jaguar Land Rover creates new director role  

Barbara Bergmeier was named Jaguar Land Rover’s first executive director of industrial operations, effective July 1. She will lead Jaguar’s newly created Industrial Operations division, which was formed to consolidate responsibilities across manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain, according to a company statement. 

Bergmeier has more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing, supply chain and supplier relations in the automotive and aerospace industries, having previously served as executive vice president and head of operations at Airbus Defense and Space. 

Bergmeier began her career in the auto industry as a logistics manager at BMW Group, where she also held the roles of vice president of chassis and drive components; vice president of assembly and logistics; and vice president of global assembly technology before being promoted to senior vice president of human resources.  

Harley-Davidson exec to step down   

Harley-Davidson announced that Bryan Niketh will be stepping down from his role as senior vice president of product and operations, effective Aug. 5. 

Niketh spent nearly 21 years with Harley-Davidson in nine different roles, including materials operations manager, supply chain operations manager, senior director of product development purchasing, and vice president and general manager of supply management, according to LinkedIn. 

His role will be divided into two new positions that the company has already filled: leader of motorcycle operations and vice president of motorcycle development. 

Glen Koval, current vice president of engineering, will take on the role of vice president motorcycle development.  

Koval has spent more than 21 years with the company and has had stints as general manager of engineering, chief engineer EV platform, product development technical lead, and senior design engineer among a variety of other roles within the company. 

Patrick Slaats, current vice president of manufacturing, will become leader of motorcycle operations on an interim basis until this new role is filled. 

Slaats has worked with Harley-Davidson Motor Company for more than 22 years in 10 roles, including general manager, purchasing manager of product development and manufacturing manager.  

TransUnion board gets 2 new directors  

Hamidou Dia and Ravi Kumar were appointed to TransUnion’s Board of Directors, effective July 7.  

Dia is the vice president and global head of solutions engineering and enterprise architecture for the Google Cloud platform. He previously spent nearly 20 years at multinational computer technology corporation Oracle, where he occupied multiple positions, including vice president of Oracle enterprise architects; group vice president of North America sales and consulting chief architect; and senior vice president of North America technology solution engineering and cloud customer success.  

Ravi Kumar is president at Infosys, a global IT consulting and services company. Kumar has been at the company since 2002, previously serving as senior vice president and global head of Oracle Practice, and as senior vice president and global head of consulting and systems integration. He sits on several boards at Infosys and serves as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. 

CDK announces returning CEO  

Automotive technology company CDK Global announced the return of Brian P. MacDonald as acting president and chief executive, succeeding Brian Krzanich, who stepped down July 11. 

MacDonald first served as CDK Global’s president and CEO between 2016-2018, and oversaw remodeling efforts within the company, according to a release.  

He has served in the financial services industry for more than 30 years, including 15 years in finance and executive roles at General Motors, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

MacDonald previously was a self-employed corporate director and private equity advisor. Prior to his initial stint at CDK, he served as chief executive at Herc Rentals and was chief executive, president and chief financial officer for three years at Sunoco. He also served in various leadership roles at Dell, including chief financial officer of the company’s large enterprise business unit, and vice president of treasury, tax and corporate planning. 

Fintech Solifi names Bhargava its first president 

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Solifi announced the appointment of Mithu Bhargava as the company’s first president. SaaS provider IDS rebranded to Solifi in October 2021 following the company’s acquisition of William Stucky & Associates and White Clarke Group.  

Bhargava brings more than 20 years of operational leadership experience to Solifi and will help drive the delivery and scalability of SaaS products for the secured finance industry, according to a release. 

She previously served as executive vice president, senior vice president and general manager of global professional services at NCR Corporation, and senior vice president of global commercial presales, vice president of presales Americas,, and vice president and chief operating officer of global pre-sales at Dell EMC. 

Lightico promotes news sales director of consumer lending 

Lightico has promoted Yotam Haroosh  to sales director of consumer lending.  

Haroosh has been at Lightico for five years, leading accounts in a variety of industries, including auto lending. Lenders such as Capital One, Global Lending Services and Westlake Financial use the SaaS platform’s digital completion cloud to originate and service loans. 

Prior to joining Lightico, Haroosh served as vice president of business development at call center application Robohold as well as a sales manager for several companies in the financial services and insurance spaces.