Leslie Gillin has made it her mission to ensure that financial inclusion is a top business priority at Pagaya, rather than merely a marketing and brand-building phrase.
Pagaya, which is based in New York City and Tel Aviv, uses artificial intelligence to analyze data points that help banks and fintechs issue loans to borrowers who might otherwise be rejected under their legacy underwriting models. Its clients include Ally Financial, SoFi Technologies, Visa, challenger bank Upgrade, loan marketplace Prosper and more.
Since Gillin joined in 2021, she has turned her mission into tangible results: More than half of loans issued in Pagaya's network of lending partners go to low- to moderate-income consumers. More than a third of all approvals go to Black or Latino consumers, and half are granted to female borrowers. According to an analysis that Pagaya conducted with TransUnion, using industry benchmarking and census-tracked data, the company asserts that it issues a higher percentage of loans to Black, Latino and LMI consumers than traditional peer groups.
Gillin has onboarded several new partners to Pagaya's network in the past year, including subprime auto lender Exeter Finance. A February partnership with U.S. Bancorp, where the Minneapolis bank turned to Pagaya to conduct secondary reviews of personal loan applicants who didn't meet its traditional credit requirements, resulted in more than 2,000 new borrowers receiving personal loans from the bank.
Gillin has also been committed to diversity on her own team, hiring people from a range of backgrounds, including traditional finance, technology, payments, auto, media and consulting. More than 30% of these individuals are from ethnically diverse backgrounds and more than 60% are women. Women constitute 63% of Leslie's senior leadership team.
Prior to joining Pagaya, Gillin was chief marketing officer of JPMorgan Chase. She has also served as president of Chase co-brand cards and CMO of Citi's global consumer bank. Gillin serves on the boards of Comscore, an audience measurement company, and Establishment Labs, a biotech firm that focuses on women.
