Dive Brief:

• Personal finance app and website NerdWallet has hired Lauren St. Clair as CFO, it announced Thursday. She joins NerdWallet from online marketplace giant eBay, where she has been North American CFO for just under two years. 

• St. Clair's hire follows a year of international growth for the company. In August, it acquired U.K.-based personal finance website Know Your Money, and in November acquired New York-based lending marketplace Fundera. One of St. Clair's immediate priorities is to ensure the smooth integrations of those companies into NerdWallet, she told CFO Dive.

• Alongside St. Clair, NerdWallet expanded its Board of Directors to include Jennifer Ceran, CFO of public SaaS company Smartsheet, and Lynne Laube, CEO and co-founder of ad platform Cardlytics.

Dive Insight:

As finance chief, St. Clair will lead all of NerdWallet's financial operations and aid in its rapid growth and international expansion, the company said.

"I am unbelievably impressed with the fantastic business and solid financials behind NerdWallet," St. Clair said in a statement. "I'm excited to join NerdWallet after such a strong year of growth, and look forward to working alongside the 'Nerds' to continue building on this success and scaling the business."

St. Clair brings nearly two decades of finance experience in both the startup space and at multinational corporations. 

At eBay, she managed investor relations, speaking with shareholders and effectively communicating the company's strategy, the release said. Prior to eBay, St. Clair was CFO of StubHub International in Bilbao, Spain, where she directed all financial forecasting and reporting processes.

"At StubHub, I gained first-hand experience in M&A integrations and managing large, complex teams across a variety of markets, especially navigating the cultural differences that make all the difference between success and failure," St. Clair told CFO Dive in an emailed statement. "I was attracted by NerdWallet's purpose to bring greater clarity to all of life's financial decisions. The company has strong financials, a sustainable business model and years of consistent, profitable growth." 

"We're thrilled to have Lauren on the team," Tim Chen, NerdWallet co-founder and CEO, said. "Lauren joins us with obvious strengths when it comes to both being a strategically minded exec in a consumer marketplace and building high performing teams."

"With all the uncertainty of the past year, the role of finance has never been more critical to business; I believe this will continue as we head into 2021," St. Clair said. "It also means there's a lot of opportunity for finance professionals to lead and engage with their businesses to enable growth and unlock new investment opportunities."