Wise Group hires former NICE chief Barak Eilam as next chair

Wise Group PLC on Tuesday announced the appointment of Barak Eilam as non-executive director & chair designate, succeeding David Wells.

The London-based money transfer services provider said Wells will step down as chair and as a director in April. He joined the company in 2019 as a non-executive director and became chair in 2021.

Eilam, who will also be chair of Wise's nominating and corporate governance committees, "is a highly experienced technology executive and board director with nearly three decades of experience building and scaling global technology businesses," Wise said.

The company noted that Eilam worked at Nasdaq-listed cloud platform provider NICE for 25 years, including serving as chief executive officer from 2014 to 2024.

"He brings both deep operational and board-level experience, currently serving on the boards of FactSet, CCC Intelligent Solutions, Similarweb and, previously, Payoneer," Wise noted.

"Barak brings a rare combination: years of hands-on experience building and scaling enterprise technology, and a track record of partnering with companies on their long-term strategy," Wise Co-Founder & CEO Kristo Kaarmann commented. "I've been impressed by what he built at NICE over 25 years - joining as an engineer and transforming it into a global cloud enterprise software leader.

"That operator mindset, combined with his board experience at fast-growing public companies, makes him an exceptional partner and chair as we continue to build 'the' network for the world's money."

Kaarmann added that when Wells joined Wise, "we had six million customers.

"Today we serve nearly 19 million customers and some of the largest banks in the world. Under his chairmanship, we scaled our impact for people and businesses globally and became a dual-listed company."

Eilam, meanwhile, commented: "Wise is one of the most distinctive and important technology companies in global financial services. The team has built an extraordinary business...combining a strong customer proposition with a technology-driven and highly-scalable model.

"I see a significant opportunity ahead to build on that foundation, expand Wise's impact globally, and create substantial long-term value for customers and owners. I'm excited to work with the board and leadership team as Wise enters its next phase of growth."

Wise shares were up 0.1% at 919.02 pence on Tuesday in London.

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