People Moves Americas: Reddit, Wells Fargo, Robinhood, Visa

In a week where Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, lands his first C-suite executive position, as Chief Impact Officer of Silicon Valley mental health unicorn BetterUp, we round up the latest executive transitions across the Americas. 

From Chief Creative Officer to Chief Product Officer to Chief Diversity Officer, discover the latest C-suite appointments in the financial services, consulting and media industries. 

Leslie Sims joins Deloitte as Chief Creative Officer

Award-winning creatibe executive Leslie Sims joins Deloitte Digital US as Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director of Deloitte Consulting. Recognised as a Top 10 US CCO by AdWeek and one of the Most Creative Women in Advertising by Business Insider, Sims brings extensive experience setting and resetting the reactive vision for Fortune 500 organisations such as IBM, US Navy, Mastercard and Staples. 

Sims has previously served as Chief Creative Officer, for Y&R and then for Ogilvy, where she led the national creative vision for both agencies, creating award-winning client work. In this new role, Sims will work across the entire business to integrate its creative capabilities and will help Deloitte Digital clients across the C-suite harness the power of creativity to develop brand-defining experiences. 

According to John Peto, US head of Deloitte Digital, Sims’ “creative leadership will fuel new growth for clients, inspired our talent and elevate the human experience for everyone with whome she works”. 

Aparna Chennapragada becomes Robinhood’s CPO

Google executive Aparna Chennapradada has been selected as the first Chief Product Officer for commission-free investment platform, Robinhood. 

Having been a leader at Google for almost 13 years, most recently as VP overseeing product management for new product areas in augmented reality, Chennapragada brings more than two decades of experience across various industries, combined with a deep understanding of technology, information, AI and customer experience. In this new role for Robinhood, Chennapradada will focus on making the financial markets accessible to millions pf people through the firm’s suite of products. 

Reetika Grewal named Head of Digital for Wells Fargo

Financial services expert Reetika Grewal is set to join Wells Fargo as head of Digital for Commercial Banking and Corporate & Investment Banking. Grewal joins from JP Morgan Chase, where she most recently served as head of Digital for the Commercial Bank, and prior to this she was global head of Payments Strategy and Solutions at Silicon Valley Bank. 

Lauded for her work in the payments and innovation space, Grewal has secured multiple accolades, including PaymentsSource Most Influential Women in Payments for four consecutive years. Set to lead the digital transformation of the company’s commercial banking and corporate and investment banking businesses, Grewal brings “proven success in the payments and fintech industry” that will “help us delivery deeper financial experiences”, says Ather Williams III, head of Strategy, Digital, and Innovation.  

Michelle Gethers-Clark becomes Visa's Chief Diversity Officer

Following more than two decades in senior leadership roles, Michelle Gethers-Clark has been appointed by Visa as its Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Corporate Responsibility, a newly expanded role that will see Gethers-Clark drive a company-wide approach to includsion and diversity, sustainability and social impact with a focus on inclusive and equitable economic growth. 

Having spent more than 20 years in various senior roles at Amerivan Express and more recently as President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Greensboro, North Carolina, where she led fundraising and distribution of US$90 million to social impact programs, Gethers-Clark has “tremendous leadership experience closely aligning inclusion and diversity, social impact and philanthropic initiatives to business objects and producing transformational results”, says Al Kelly, CEO and Chairman. She is stet to join in May and will be based in the firm’s San Francisco headquarters. 

Laura Nestler appointed VP of Community for Reddit

Global leader Laura Nestler has joined Reddit ’s executive leadership team as VP of Community. Nestler comes to Reddit with a 15-year track record of building strategic, high-impact teams and scalable community systems at growth-stage startups. In addition to nine years spend at Yelp, where she was instrumental in crafting the original community growth playbook, Nestler was most recently Global Head of Community at Duolingo, where she spearheaded community-focused global brand initiatives. 

Passionate about community-led growth, Nestler is well-versed to lead Reddit’s Community Operations team, where she’ll be responsible for defining Reddit’s international community strategy, driving key initiatives for community development, evolving the company’s community governance model, and transitioning the team into a global organisation. “Laura embodies the true meaning of community and belonging and will be an excellent trailblazer as we mature our Community team and reach millions of more users across the globe,” says Alex Le, VP of Product, Design, and Community at Reddit.