Aura, a mission-driven financial technology company that offers affordable loans to hard-working families, today appointed Sven Kaludzinski general counsel and corporate secretary. Mr. Kaludzinski will report to Aura CEO James Gutierrez and will oversee Aura’s legal, regulatory and compliance matters.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191028005264/en/
Aura Appoints Sven Kaludzinski General Counsel (Photo: Business Wire)
“Aura is thrilled that Sven is stepping into the role of general counsel,” said James Gutierrez, CEO of Aura. “Sven brings deep legal experience, a passion for social justice and a personal story that makes him the perfect fit for Aura. As Aura continues to grow, Sven will build a strong legal team, find ways to expand the business and help us fulfill our mission of providing affordable loans to hard-working people in America.”
Prior to joining Aura, Mr. Kaludzinski served as the general counsel for Ygrene Energy Fund, one of the leading providers of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing in the U.S., where he was the founding member of the legal and compliance team that he grew and managed. Before that, he served as the head of legal for the global residential business unit of a large solar developer.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Kaludzinski represented lenders, tax equity investors and developers for large scale renewables projects as a project finance attorney for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He also worked on Wall Street for two major European banks including as a market risk manager and for a non-profit organization addressing poverty and social injustice for at-risk youth.
“I’m honored to be joining the Aura family,” said Sven Kaludzinski. “My roots are in the south Rio Grande Valley in Texas so I have a deep connection to the communities that Aura serves. I look forward to working with the broader team to grow our business and help more people obtain affordable loans and achieve financial prosperity.”
Mr. Kaludzinski holds a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs from Tufts University, an M.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a J.D. from USC’s Gould School of Law.
About Aura
Aura is a technology-powered Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides small, affordable loans to working families in America. Aura’s mission is to build financially healthy low-income communities by providing empowering financial services to America’s 66 million underbanked and unbanked. Aura has pioneered a cloud-based lending technology that enables trusted local businesses to submit credit applications for centralized review and approval by its proprietary scoring algorithms.
Currently available in nearly 1,200 locations across California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona, Aura has provided hundreds of thousands of credit-building, responsible loans to low-income households since launching in 2014. Aura was founded in 2012 by James Gutierrez, Kevin Kang, and Randy Wong. All three founders helped create and scale Oportun, a CDFI and one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Most Genius Companies in 2018.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191028005264/en/