Varo Bank, N.A., the first all-digital, nationally chartered bank in the U.S, today announced the appointment of Jon Alferness as its new Chief Product Officer. Jon joins the company at a pivotal time as Varo continues to expand its digital banking offerings with a focus on enabling wealth creation for underserved communities that have been left behind by the traditional banking industry.
Alferness brings over 20 years of experience in building, scaling and optimizing consumer products. Most recently as VP of Rideshare at Lyft, where he led the engineering, product, and revenue teams of the company’s core consumer and enterprise ride sharing businesses. Prior to Lyft, Jon served as SVP, Ads and Commerce at Pinterest, leading the company’s revenue operation after spending twelve years at Google, where he held a number of leadership roles on the ads and commerce teams.
“We are thrilled to have Jon join Varo,” said Colin Walsh, Varo Bank’s founder and Chief Executive Officer. “To win in an increasingly competitive environment, Jon and his team will focus on an integrated product strategy that delivers significantly greater core product value and engagement with our customers. They will leverage Varo’s unique assets to drive product innovation and rapidly accelerate customer growth and profitability.”
“Throughout my career, I’ve worked closely to focus development teams on the critical needs of users in order to build long-term, high-growth, sustainable businesses,” said Alferness. “I’m thrilled to join Varo, and with our very capable development teams, to unlock the power and opportunity of banking for all.”
Varo Bank recently raised $510 million in a Series E round taking its valuation to $2.5 billion. The bank has also doubled its customer accounts to four million and tripled revenue since being awarded its charter.
About Varo Bank, N.A.
Varo Bank is on a mission to make financial inclusion and opportunity a reality for all – by empowering people with the products and support they need to create healthy financial habits and be in control of their finances. Varo Bank offers customers premium bank accounts that have no minimum balance requirement or monthly account fee, high-interest savings accounts, and tech-first features to help people save and manage their money effortlessly. Varo Bank is the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,