Since Social Finance Inc was founded four years ago to provide student loan refinancing to the early-stage professional market segment, it has funded more than $2B in loans. General Counsel Rob Lavet says the customer base is growing by about 4,000 per month and the possibility of going public has been discussed. The company is also expanding into personal loans and mortgages and will eventually provide investment advisory services to members. In February, it raised $235M with its Series D equity round and is now valued at $1.3B. Before Rob joined SoFi—his first startup experience—he'd spent 16 years at Sallie Mae, including heading the 75-person legal team as GC. After 33 years in the legal industry, he says this was a great time in his career to try this. He's also been a partner with Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville and Cole Corette & Abrutyn and a DOJ trial lawyer. SoFi's legal and compliance team just added a mortgage compliance officer, Rob says, and is going to grow rapidly.
What you didn't know about Rob:
His first job was as a tennis instructor.
He's often flying cross-country, as SoFi is based in San Francisco; he's there at least one or two weeks per month.
Rob once beat John McEnroe in junior tennis and is currently nationally ranked in his age category.
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