Intuit CFO R. Neil Williams Joins Oportun Board of Directors

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 08, 2017 -- Oportun, a mission-driven financial services company that provides personal loans to people with little or no credit history, today announced that Neil Williams will be joining the company’s board of directors. Williams, who is best known for serving as Chief Financial Officer of Intuit since 2008, recently announced that he would be stepping down from that role in January 2018.

Oportun CEO Raul Vazquez said he was grateful that Williams had agreed to join Oportun’s board of directors. “Neil brings so much to the Oportun board. In addition to having nearly three decades of experience at financial services companies like Visa and Intuit, Neil has an acute understanding of the challenges our customers face every day,” said Vazquez. “We know that he will make an important contribution to our mission.”

“I grew up in Mississippi and have seen how hard it is for people to respond to unforeseen difficulties or opportunities when they are living paycheck to paycheck and have neither savings nor access to credit,” said Williams. “According to the CFPB, there are an estimated 45 million people in the United States who have little or no credit history. Oportun has the proprietary scoring engine and business model necessary to lend them the money they need so they can establish credit and build a better future. I’m looking forward to serving as board member and doing my part to help Oportun address this important social need.”

About Oportun

Oportun is a mission-driven financial services company that uses advanced data analytics and technology to provide responsible, affordable personal loans that help people with little or no credit history establish credit and build a better future. The company’s centralized data analytics system calculates each loan applicant’s ability to repay, approves those loans the company believes can be paid back, and sets loan amounts and terms to fit customer budgets. Customer account information is also reported to credit bureaus to help customers establish credit history.

Since its founding in 2005, Oportun has helped more than a million customers by disbursing more than $4 billion through more than two million small dollar loans. According to research commissioned by Oportun and conducted by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), a leading authority in consumer financial health, Oportun customers have saved more than a billion dollars in interest and fees by choosing Oportun loans instead of other options widely available to people with little or no credit history, including payday and pawn loans. Those alternatives are four times more expensive on average, but can be up to seven times more expensive. Oportun operates more than 250 retail locations and delivers bilingual (English/Spanish) customer service via retail locations, contact centers, and/or mobile to customers in Arizona, California, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah.

Press Contact: 
Michael Azzano
Cosmo PR for Oportun
415/596-1978
[email protected]