Clara Appoints André Henrique Santoro as New Chief Risk Officer

São Paulo, July 2022 - Clara, the Latin American unicorn startup for corporate spend management solutions, paired with international credit cards, has hired André Henrique Santoro to take on the role of Chief Risk Officer. The executive, who has previously worked at RappiBank Brazil, Pravaler, Consiga+ and Pitzi, has been in the risk field since 2010. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and began his career at Citi, where he worked for more than seven years. He also holds an MBA with a focus on financial markets, also from FGV.

Before joining Clara, Santoro was CRO and Director of Data Science at RappiBank Brazil, where he was responsible for building and structuring the risk team in Brazil. He also led the credit card operation to make it scalable. At Consiga+, in addition to building the credit and BI teams, he achieved notable results by leading the raise of R$300 million in capital (FiDC) for the company's growth. The executive also has solid experience in profitability and pricing studies; evaluation and analysis of capital returns for new initiatives and products; financial control and portfolio profitability tracking; and liaising with Treasury to define fundraising and structured operations.

"I am very excited to take on this new position at a startup like Clara, which has grown rapidly across Latin America and has brought digital transformation to companies' financial and administrative functions, contributing to greater control and efficiency in managing corporate spend," said Santoro. 

With this appointment, Clara expects to strengthen its position in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, as well as its expansion across Latin America. "André's arrival is yet another key step in Clara's growth across Latin America," said Gerry Giacomán Colyer, CEO and co-founder of Clara. "His extensive experience in risk and data will bring even more value and robustness to our team and operations," he added.

The company, recognized as a Great Place to Work, already has a team of more than 300 people across Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. In addition, the startup has already surpassed five thousand partner companies and clients in the region.