MUMBAI: MPOWER Financing (“MPOWER”), a mission-driven fintech firm and the leading provider of non-cosigned loans to promising students from around the world, today announced the appointment of Jatin Rajput as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Rajput will step down from MPOWER’s board and will be replaced by Rob Partlow, MPOWER’s previous CFO, who is retiring from full-time work and will join MPOWER’s Board of Directors.
“Rob Partlow’s retirement from full-time work left big shoes for our next CFO to fill. MPOWER initially retained a search firm to find the best lend-tech CFO on the planet. One of our board members, Jatin Rajput, had the right mix of experience in fintech and SaaS, so we were delighted when he stepped forward as a candidate,” said Manu Smadja, CEO and co-founder of MPOWER Financing. “Jatin is already well-versed in MPOWER’s business and brings a proven track record across financial services, technology, and social impact; we are thrilled to welcome him to our executive team. His appointment comes on the heels of over $300 million in financing commitments from Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Varde Partners, and he will continue to play a crucial role in scaling and maturing our Capital Markets engine and operating platform.”
Rajput joins as CFO after serving as an MPOWER board member since 2020. He is an accomplished executive with 25 years of experience driving strategy, M&A, and investments for both publicly traded and emerging global firms. Most recently, Rajput was CFO of Deskera, a B2B SaaS platform, and founded Ad-In Ventures, which invests in and advises fintech firms across the United States and Asia. Prior to that, Rajput was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank for 12 years, during which he led corporate M&A and strategy and planning for the Americas and Asia Pacific. He started his career with Arthur Andersen, followed by management consulting with Marakon Associates in London, and served on a World Bank project in Afghanistan. His deep experience in international financial services, technology, and impact investing will be a vital asset as MPOWER rapidly expands globally. Rajput holds an MBA from INSEAD and is a Chartered Accountant from India, and serves as a strategic advisor to several growth companies.
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“As a former international student who has lived and worked in India, Singapore, Afghanistan, the U.K., and the U.S., my career would have been unattainable without access to student financing,” said Rajput. “As a board member, MPOWER’s mission to serve students across the globe captivated me. I look forward to applying my experience to help MPOWER grow and further democratize access to education.”
Outgoing CFO Rob Partlow will retire from full-time work and will join MPOWER’s Board of Directors after more than 33 years of experience in consumer finance and fintech.
“We’re excited to add Rob to our board during his well-deserved retirement,” said Smadja. “Under his leadership, MPOWER scaled its capital markets engine to cross $300 million in financing capacity and matured key processes across FP&A, Accounting, and Treasury.”
Prior to joining MPOWER, Partlow was EVP of Capital Markets and CFO of GreenSky Inc., a leading U.S.-based fintech firm providing frictionless point-of-sale promotional finance. Partlow managed GreenSky’s 2018 IPO while he was the firm’s CFO and Executive Vice President from November 2014 to September 2020. He later launched GreenSky’s loan sale program as Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. Before GreenSky, he served as CFO for Seneca Mortgage Management LLC, Fieldstone Investment Corporation, and Saxon Capital Inc., and additionally held various finance and accounting roles for SunTrust Mortgage Inc., Dynex Capital Inc., and KPMG.
