Acorns Names Amazon Alum David Hijirida as President Ahead of IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Acorns Grow Inc. hired former Amazon.com Inc. executive David Hijirida as its president, as the savings and investing startup prepares to go public by merging with a blank-check company.

Hijirida was at Amazon for 12 years, followed by a stint as chief executive officer at digital bank Simple, which its owner BBVA decided to shutter. His appointment comes about a month after Irvine, California-based Acorns hired Twitter Inc.’s Rich Sullivan as chief financial officer.

With experience in payments and product operations at Amazon and neo-banking, Hijirida “will be a great addition to our team at Acorns as we take the next step to our future,” Acorns Chief Executive Officer Noah Kerner said in a phone interview. As the firm develops services that help people manage their money across different stages of their life, Kerner will now focus on brand-building and expanding the company across the U.S. and globally.

Acorns is among a slew of startups that have chosen to go public with the help of a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Acorns’ trading debut would value the company at $2.2 billion and is set for later this year. 

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