Pivotus Ventures Expands Leadership Team

Pivotus Ventures Inc., a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, has hired Janina Lieser and Raj Bhandari as Entrepreneur in Residence, Dr. Andrew Eichenbaum as Chief Data Scientist and Joshua Sortino as Head of Design. All will work directly with Managing Directors Steve Gotz and Oren Goldschmidt to advance bank innovation and customer experience.

“Janina, Raj, Andrew and Joshua bring a powerful combination of innovative product development, data analytics and user experience design that will be essential as Pivotus leverages Umpqua Bank’s reputation and data to reinvent the banking experience,” said Ray Davis, president and CEO of Umpqua Holdings Corporation. “With their talent and expertise, we look forward to collaborating with banks around the country and the world to advance the customer experience.”

Lieser brings a broad range of expertise working with companies including Monitise, Deloitte, Royal Bank of Scotland and Cisco to lead the definition, development and go-to-market strategy of innovative mobile banking, commerce and enterprise collaboration products and solutions. Lieser holds degrees from King’s College London and the London Metropolitan University, and in 2011 was named Outstanding Young Executive of the Year by the Global Business Excellence awards.

Bhandari has a broad range of experience with both startups and established Fortune 100 companies. Most recently, he led the team responsible for developing mobile strategy delivering growth of mobile commerce for Walmart Labs. Previously he served as CEO of SSE, where he launched StartX a startup accelerator. He also led American Express’s Strategic Planning Group, an advisory group to the company’s CEO. Bhandari has a Bachelor of Science in finance from The Wharton School and a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Eichenbaum brings more than 15 years of experience in data science specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning. He has worked with a range of organizations including Orange, Intel, and Intuit, and has particular expertise in creating, leading, and scaling high-performing data science and advanced analytics teams. Earlier in his career Eichenbaum performed post-graduate research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator where he delivered some of the world’s most accurate measurements of subatomic particle (b quark) mass. Eichenbaum holds a Masters and PhD. from the University of Wisconsin Madison in High Energy Physics and a degree in Physics from Rutgers University.

For more than 15 years, Sortino has been at the forefront of user experience design working with Fortune 500 companies including the NFL, NBA, AOL, Pfizer and Liberty Mutual to design and build digital tools, products, and business lines that enhance the user experience. Most recently, he helped build and lead design teams at startups including Disqus and Teespring. In his spare time, Sortino serves as a design mentor at Andreesen Horowitz and is an advisor to several venture backed startups.

About Umpqua Holdings Corporation

Umpqua Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: UMPQ) is the parent company of Umpqua Bank, an Oregon-based community bank recognized for its entrepreneurial approach, innovative use of technology, and distinctive banking solutions. Umpqua Bank has locations across Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and Northern Nevada. Umpqua Holdings also owns a retail brokerage subsidiary, Umpqua Investments, Inc., which has locations in Umpqua Bank stores and in dedicated offices in Oregon. Umpqua Private Bank serves high net worth individuals and non-profits, providing trust and investment services. Umpqua Holdings Corporation is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For more information, visit www.umpquaholdingscorp.com.

About Pivotus Ventures

Pivotus Ventures, a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, is an innovation studio chartered with imagining and creating key technologies and business models that aims to transform finance and commerce. Pivotus was founded by a group of startup entrepreneurs looking for a way to combine the power of the startup model with the direct access to capital, customers and infrastructure that only exists within established financial services institutions.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160310006653/en/