Marley Spoon CMO Kate Whitney joins fintech Wisr Board

ASX-listed Australian fintech Wisr announce the appointment of Kate Whitney (pictured), Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Marley Spoon Australia, to the position of Non-Executive Director, effective 01 April 2022.

Kate will bring her immense experience in Australian and international consumer marketing, growth acceleration, product expansion, and customer acquisition. Her leadership across marketing and growth helped to double Marley Spoon Australia’s revenue in 2020 and its customer and company growth by over 25% in 2021.

Before joining Marley Spoon, Kate drove Pernod Ricard’s global digital transformation program in Australia and at the company’s US headquarters in New York. She spent two-and-a-half years as the Director of Digital. Between 2011 and 2014, she was the General Manager of Marketing at David Jones, and before that, she spent five years as Head of Brand and Retail Marketing at Foxtel.

Kate’s appointment follows the Wisr Board’s previously advised commitment to growing with appropriate talent as the Company accelerates its growth ambitions to deliver the short-term target of a $1B loan book. In January 2022, the Company appointed former Deutsche Bank UK Director Cathryn Lyall as a Non-Executive Director, adding further depth to Wisr’s governance capability. Kate’s appointment also brings female representation on the Wisr Board to 40%.

Wisr Chairman, John Nantes, said, “On behalf of the Wisr Board, I welcome Kate to our team. Her depth in Brand and Marketing experience, approach to leadership and culture, and global business acumen across consumer products will be invaluable as we accelerate Wisr’s path to profitability. Combined with the Company’s unbroken track record of 22 consecutive quarters of new loan growth, strong balance sheet, and well-capitalised position, Wisr has never been in a better position to support our growth ambitions in 2022”.

“Kate and Cathryn’s appointments are an exciting opportunity for the business, our stakeholders and customers. Both are incredibly qualified with diverse experience and have come into the talent pool as first-time ASX-board appointments. A depth of research from Australia and across the globe clearly show the positive impact of female board membership on a company’s growth and profitability. Wisr is very proud to support greater gender diversity while also increasing the level of female talent at the Board level in Australia.”

Kate said of her appointment, “I’m excited to be joining one of Australia’s most innovative and purpose-driven companies. The company’s impressive growth, data-driven approach and behaviour-driven culture that has been delivered by Chief Executive Officer Anthony Nantes and the Wisr Executive Leadership Team is best in class. I’m looking forward to supporting the next stage of Wisr’s journey to accelerate our revenue, the path to profitability, customer acquisition and operating leverage into H2 and beyond.”