Ocrolus Adds Senior Technical Leadership

Ocrolus has a mission to make financial decisioning faster and more accurate at scale. The company has seen tremendous growth since its inception and has proven the value of its solutions to customers. As we continue our growth into new markets, Ocrolus is pleased to announce three rockstar new hires to its tech leadership team: Pieter Nel, Douglas Melchior, and David Snitkof. They will work together to expand the Ocrolus platform and build on the technology it has developed over the past six years.

Pieter Nel has joined Ocrolus as Chief Technology Officer.  Pieter brings a long, distinguished career in software, having held multiple C-level positions at disruptive startups, including the world’s first mobile instant messenger and first mobile livestreaming platform.  Most recently, he worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on artificial intelligence and digital strategy. He received an MS in electronics engineering from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from MIT, where he was a Sloan Fellow.

Pieter was attracted to Ocrolus by the company’s human-in-the-loop AI workflow and how we are able to generate proprietary labeled training data at scale. According to Pieter, “This is an end-to-end strategic asset that is rare in the AI world, and it creates a flywheel effect where machine learning algorithms are always improving.” Despite advances in tools for data science and machine learning, the fundamental process of gathering data remains difficult and inefficient.  Since every document that Ocrolus processes is validated, Ocrolus naturally creates tremendous volumes of labeled training data. Whereas other companies typically purchase training data or resort to using third party labeling services of varying quality, Ocrolus uses its own human and algorithmic QC techniques to create novel data in a highly controlled environment. Pieter is excited to build upon and leverage Ocrolus’ human-in-the-loop AI engine more deeply to uncover new opportunities for customers.

Douglas Melchior joins Ocrolus as Vice President of Product.  For the last decade, Douglas has held SaaS product management leadership roles, most recently at Goldman Sachs. He previously worked in product management at AppNexus and DataXu. Douglas holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Virginia.

Ocrolus’ traction in the lending market is what originally piqued Douglas’ interest in the company.  When asked what compelled him to join Ocrolus, Douglas says, “from the founding team and management team, to product managers and engineers, Ocrolus employees share a passion for problem-solving. I’m keen to build on the company’s momentum as it expands from fintech markets to more traditional finance companies.”  With his proven track record, Douglas will further differentiate Ocrolus as a market leader for business and mortgage lending automation.

Finally, Ocrolus has hired David Snitkof as Vice President of Analytics.  David is an entrepreneur and innovator in data and analytics for credit markets. He was most recently Head of Analytics and Data Strategy at Kabbage.  David also co-founded Orchard Platform, a marketplace for analytics and transactions between originators and secondary investors, which was acquired by Kabbage in 2018. Before that, David held data and analytics leadership roles at Citi and Amex. David holds a BA from Brown University.

Ocrolus has accumulated cash-flow profiles for over one million small businesses in the United States and is just scratching the surface of the massive opportunity to build next-generation analytics.  As recent economic turmoil has shown, typical credit data is no longer sufficient, and forward-thinking lenders will require richer, more personalized information on their prospects and customers.  David has the ideal background to develop new and improved risk model inputs, as well as to find creative ways to glean additional insights, including the expansion of analytical product value into new markets, including credit, insurance, and merchant services. According to David, “financial services companies are hungry for novel data and advanced analytics that enable high-quality decisions. Ocrolus is incredibly well-positioned to provide transformative solutions.”

The combined experience of Pieter, Douglas, and David will help Ocrolus drive value for new and existing customers in a time where digital transformation has never been more critical.  Ocrolus has already proven its infrastructure to be highly efficient in fintech lending, where we have established ourselves as a technology leader. There is vast green space ahead of us in new markets, and we are thrilled to have Pieter, Douglas, and David lead the next phase of the Ocrolus platform.

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Vikas Dua is the COO at Ocrolus.