Versana announced that industry veterans Christine Scaffidi and Christopher Fonte have joined the company as Head of Product and Head of Sales, respectively, reporting directly to Cynthia Sachs, Founding CEO. Each brings decades of valuable banking, data and technology experience, underscoring Versana’s continuing drive to modernize the $7 trillion corporate loan market.
In her role as Head of Product, Scaffidi will be responsible for product strategy and execution of the company’s product roadmap, working closely with David Kamp, CTO. Scaffidi boasts an impressive background on both the vendor and banking sides of the market. Most recently, she was Senior Principal Product Manager for Corporate & Syndicated Lending at Finastra, and previously held the position of Head of Commercial Lending Services at Commerzbank.
In his role as Head of Sales, Fonte will be responsible for leading the company’s sales organization and growing its revenue base. Fonte joined most recently from Amazon Web Services, and previously Bloomberg LP, where he held senior sales roles in the U.S and Europe. Prior to that, Fonte worked in the structured products group at Barclays, formerly Lehman Brothers, for over a decade. His credit, data and technology background at premier institutions brings best-in-class and diverse experience to Versana.
“We’re thrilled that Christine and Christopher have joined Versana to execute on our transformative mission,” said Cynthia Sachs, Founding CEO. “Christine is a highly respected market veteran with years of relevant, hands-on loan industry experience to take Versana to the next level. Christopher equally brings impressive experience across financial data and technology enterprise businesses. We’re excited for the enormous value they will bring and look forward to their many contributions as we continue to grow.”
Commenting on her new role, Scaffidi said: “I’m elated to join Versana in this key position to revolutionize both the broadly syndicated loan and private credit markets. Having dedicated my entire career to this industry, I’m excited to apply the diverse perspectives I’ve gained as an agent, lender and vendor to further Versana’s mission to digitally scale the loan market.”
Fonte added: “Versana is modernizing a $7 trillion asset class, and I’m thrilled to be an integral part of its journey. I look forward to leveraging my experience to further accelerate the company’s growth and expand its market presence.”
Versana has demonstrated rapid growth since its platform launch in December 2022. Last month, the company announced two major milestones by surpassing 1,500 facilities on its digital data platform and achieving connectivity to Citi’s agent loan servicing system. Launched by founding investors Bank of America, Citi, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan, Versana was created to address the operational inefficiencies and technological fragmentation in the broadly syndicated loan and private credit markets.