On Tuesday Uber announced that Nelson J. Chai will fill a role that has been vacant since 2015. He has been hired as Chief Financial Officer ahead of a planned IPO. Chai comes to Uber from the Warranty Group, a Chicago-based insurance and warranty provider where he served as chief executive. His resume also includes stints as president at CIT Group and CFO for Merrill Lynch & Co.
Uber has been trying hard to fix its finances as it prepares to go public next year. Most recently the company released numbers to put Uber’s valuation at around $60 billion.
To bring on someone as experienced and thoughtful as Nelson.” He hopes that “He will be a great partner for me and the entire management team as we move towards becoming a public company.- Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO, Uber
The position for the CFO has been vacant since 2015 after the departure of Brent Callinicos. Replacement for a new CFO was also thought of but little interest was shown until the new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stepped up for the search.
The lack of an important senior manager is rare for a company of this size whose net revenue was $2.8 billion in the second quarter this year and this had worried the investors too.
After the announcement (from Uber) goes out I expect to become a lot more popular with people from my past. – Nelson Chai
According to reports Chai was chosen after making an offer to VMware CFO Zane Rowe but Rowe had to drop it as he was pressurized from his board.
Till now Uber has had a number of vacancies to fill since Kalanick’s departure. Things in the company have not gone very smoothly and Chai hopes to investigate things into place. “The bigger part is going to be talking through some of the strategic choices the company has made to invest in” – Chai
Currently, as reports suggest he is looking for an apartment in San Francisco so that he can start his job next month.
