PayPal Boosts Leadership Ahead Of eBay Split

As PayPal readies to officially separate from eBay and operate as an independent company, the payments technology firm revealed Monday (April 20) that it has added two key members to its leadership team.

Louise Pentland will join the company as General Counsel later this month, and Jonathan Auerbach will become the firm’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth, according to a press release offered by PayPal.

PayPal president and CEO designee Dan Schulman said he is “thrilled” to announce the two new members, adding that “they will undoubtedly make immediate impact as we work to take advantage of our tremendous opportunity ahead.”

Pentland previously served as the Executive Vice President ad Chief Legal Officer for Nokia, and thus will bring her expanded corporate legal expertise to PayPal mixed with a long history of working with the mobile technology space. According to reports, Pentland will head PayPal’s regulatory and financial compliance requirements on a global scale.

Auerbach, who will also officially join PayPal later this month on April 27, joins the company from Singtel where he was positioned as CEO of Group Digital Life. The position, PayPal said, saw Auerbach spearhead the company’s global portfolio of digital businesses and lead its venture fund worth $250 million. At PayPal, Auerbach will lead the company’s global strategy through pinpointing strategic opportunities for partnerships, acquisitions and various investments.

EBay first announced plans to separate from PayPal last September. Earlier this month the companies offered an update on their split in the form of a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that summarizes the formal agreement between the two.

“In simplest terms what we’re trying to do is maintain as much continuity as possible between eBay and PalPal for customers, employees and investors,” eBay CEO John Donahoe told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster at the time. “We also want to maintain the synergies wherever possible and also provide as much strategic flexibility as possible.”