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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Desmond succeeds Naudé as CEO at nCino

Wilmington-based financial technology company nCino named Sean Desmond as its new president and CEO, effective today. He succeeds Cino co-founder Pierre Naudé, who has been CEO since the company started in 2012. Naudé will be executive board chair.

Desmond’s promotion comes after a succession planning process that included external and internal candidates, says Palmela Kilday, nCino’s lead independent director, in a release.

Desmond

Desmond joined nCino in 2013 as chief customer success officer and was promoted to chief product officer in May. In these roles, Desmond managed about two-thirds of nCino’s 1,650 employees. “His extensive knowledge of all key facets of our business, paired with his experience scaling large, multi-national organizations, and forward-thinking approach to product innovation through data and AI, will help nCino capture new market opportunities and drive meaningful growth,” Kilday says.

Desmond says the company’s cloud-based banking products and culture positions it for significant growth on a global scale. “My focus will be on mobilizing the company to meet the moment – which is to deliver the power of the only platform that stands on the foundation of the richest dataset in fintech, with embedded AI capabilities, to stay true to our mission of transforming financial services through innovation, reputation and speed.”

Live Oak Bancshares, which operates a national online bank of the same name, started nCino as a subsidiary to help banks make loans more efficiently. With a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, nCino has more than twice the value of its former parent company.

Naude was a former colleague of Live Oak founder Chip Mahan at Atlanta-based S1, a financial technology company that was acquired in 2011, a year before nCino’s formation. The South African native led the company’s IPO in 2020.

More than 1,850 financial institutions worldwide use nCino’s cloud banking platform. Despite rapid growth of revenue to more than $500 million annually, nCino has reported cumulative net losses of more than $240 million in the four fiscal years through January 2024. It posted a lost of about $18 million during the first three quarters of its 2025 fiscal year.

Shares of nCino opened at $80 in 2020, but have drifted lower over the years. It was trading at about $32.76 in mid-morning trading. It has traded between $28 and $43 in the past year.

Reuters reported in 2023 that nCino was considering a possible sale, which never resulted.

Desmond will see his base salary increase to $500,000, with a target annual bonus of 100% of his base salary. He will also be part of nCino’s equity incentive program for senior executives. This fiscal year that amount will be $8.2 million, which will be paid May 1, if he remains as CEO, according to an SEC filing.

Before joining nCino, Desmond worked for 14 years at Informatica, a Redwood City, California-based cloud data management provider. He also had worked at Platinum Technologies, which was acquired by Computer Associates. He has a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University

Naudé has received total compensation of about $7.8 million annually in recent years, mostly in stock awards. He will also receive a target equity bonus of $4 million on May 1 if he continues to serve as board chair.

New York-based Insight Partners owns about 25% of nCino shares, according to the company’s 2024 proxy. Live Oak is not a major shareholder.

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