Dive Brief:

• Andrei Cherny is stepping down as CEO of Aspiration, the climate-conscious neobank he co-founded in 2013, the company announced Friday.
• Olivia Albrecht, who joined the Marina Del Rey, California-based fintech as chief sustainability officer in May, will replace Cherny as CEO, Aspiration said.
• The leadership transition comes a year after the company announced plans to go public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc. The deal valued the fintech at $2.3 billion, and was expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Dive Insight:

Prior to joining Aspiration, Albrecht spent 10 years at investment management firm Pimco, where she was most recently the head of environmental, social and governance business strategy. She serves as an adviser to several companies, including a carbon accounting software company and geospatial data companies focused on satellite imagery in tracking, monitoring and analyzing sustainability risks.

“As CEO, Albrecht will continue to build Aspiration’s carbon origination, project finance and trading desk, while developing unique distribution channels across retail, small-business and large-enterprise clients,” the company said in a statement.

Under Albrecht’s leadership, Aspiration’s enterprise business is expected to deliver more than 200% year-over-year revenue growth, the company said.

Cherny will retain his position on the board and remain an adviser for Aspiration during the transition period, the company said.

“We thank Andrei for his tireless dedication building Aspiration from initial insight to a significant and rapidly growing company,” Nate Redmond, chair of Aspiration’s board of directors, said in a statement. “Olivia is precisely the right leader to realize Aspiration’s compelling vision of the future of carbon. Markets will reward pioneers that build comprehensive solutions for a net-zero world.” 

Last year, Aspiration said its planned SPAC would provide it with more than $400 million in cash — capital it aimed to use for marketing and product innovation and technology investments.

Cherny, at the time, was expected to retain his position as CEO upon completion of the SPAC.

Aspiration has garnered investments from celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Cindy Crawford and Orlando Bloom, and claims to have more than 5 million accounts.

The sustainability-focused firm promises to never use customer deposits to fund environmentally disruptive practices, such as oil and gas drilling. 

Aspiration, which doesn’t have its own bank charter, sweeps users’ deposits into community banks that it certifies as fossil-fuel-free in their own lending practices.