Step adds two FinTech heavyweights to its executive team

By Edlyn Cardoza

Step, the new modern-day financial services company built for teens and families, today announced the additions of two key executive hires. The company has welcomed Horacio Diaz Adda as its Chief Financial Officer and Kirupa Pushparaj as its General Counsel. Together, these FinTech veterans bring more than 30 years of industry experience to Step, joining the company during a time of pivotal growth, having amassed more than two million customers in its first nine months.

“I’m thrilled to welcome these brilliant minds and charismatic leaders into the #StepFam,” said CJ MacDonald, Founder and CEO at Step. “Horacio and Kirupa share a deep passion for our mission and have demonstrated a strong track record of transitioning fast-growing companies to full scale, which will be crucial as we enter the next phase of our journey to become the #1 banking platform for Gen Z.”

Diaz Adda will be responsible for scaling the business and overseeing the direction, planning and implementation of all financial functions at Step as the company looks to supercharge its growth over the next year. A tenured FinTech and payments leader, he joins the company from Stripe, where he helped build a world class strategic finance organization and spent several years driving company strategy and resource allocation to support Stripe’s rapid expansion. Prior to that, Diaz Adda spent nearly a decade at Boston Consulting Group, where he focused on advising global financial institutions on product, corporate development, and expansion initiatives.

“As an immigrant, I’ve experienced first-hand how important it is to have a solid financial foundation and the economic impact that comes from having access to fair and transparent financial products,” said Horacio Diaz Adda, CFO at Step. “I believe deeply in the work that Step is doing and couldn’t imagine spending the next decade of my career with a more humble or disciplined group of people.”

Pushparaj will be responsible for building out the company’s legal function, playing an integral role as Step continues to expand its product offerings in the most honest and responsible way. An expert legal mind, he joins the company from Square, where he spent the past eight years as part of their leadership team, spearheading a number of key legal and policy initiatives including Square’s intellectual property, legal operations, and industry-wide efforts to empower crypto innovation. His resume also includes stints at Amazon and Perkins Coie as legal counsel, as well as several years in software and hardware engineering at Siemens and Intel. Pushparaj is an adjunct at Stanford Law School and UC Davis School of Law where he teaches courses on intellectual property and technology law.

“I’m incredibly drawn to Step’s mission of improving the financial future of the next generation and their efforts to revolutionize the industry for such a vital, but often neglected, population,” said Kirupa Pushparaj, General Counsel at Step. “It’s really exciting to be a part of a team with such steadfast commitment to financial literacy and I look forward to helping Step continue to responsibly disrupt and innovate the financial services industry to empower the next generation.”

Since the company’s $100 million Series C raise back in April, Step has continued to experience massive growth, topping Apptopia’s list as the fourth most-downloaded digital banking app in the first half of the year and named one of the 13 most promising FinTechs to watch in 2021 by Insider. Step has massive product expansion plans for the second half of the year and will continue to hire aggressively.