Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Timeline
Generic

Mark Baran

Sherman Oaks,CA

Summary

Innovator, technologist, data scientist, and sometimes futurist. I have worked as a founding engineer, data scientist, engineering lead, and CTO. I have led engineering teams that delivered robust, scalable systems leveraging cutting edge technology. Within fintech, I have architected intelligent supply chain finance solutions and AP automation platforms, utilizing AI to control risk and scale robustly to billions of dollars in volume. I have experienced the entire start-up lifecycle from conception to exit, as a front-line builder, engineering manager, and company executive.

Overview

13
13
years of professional experience

Work History

Vice President, Technology & CTO, Media

Avidxchange Inc.
Charlotte, North Carolina
07.2021 - Current
  • Successfully integrated FastPay technology operations into overall Avidxchange technology organization
  • Launched advanced buyer-directed ACH platform with $1 billion dollar run rate; ACH platform automated all aspects of payment operations including bank account validation and supported same-day NACHA submission
  • Expand engineering organization to ~40 engineers under an expanded product portfolio (Core Associates construction invoice software and Ascend bank AP automation); product portfolio covered ~$7.5 million in investment and ~20% of overall corporate revenues
  • Delivered revamped supply chain finance technology platform (Invoice Accelerator 2.0); new build included data-driven credit scoring model and automated collateral ledger

Chief Technology Officer

FastPay
Los Angeles, CA
01.2019 - 06.2021
  • Key member of FastPay executive team that successfully completed exit transaction of FastPay to Avidxchange at nine figure exit price. During transaction my duties included presenting opportunity value and facilitating due diligence requests. High valuation was supported by the proven value of the payment technology platform that was heavily featured during the sale.
  • Organized technology strategy for eight figure sale of FastPay lending technology to SLR Business Credit post securitization, including successful transition of credit technology within BRAIN to SLR
  • Delivered marketing-leading closed loop payment platform for media (FastPay Network) processing $1 billion in ACH volume at scale. Payment network design included seamless support for same-day payments, refund request workflow, and advanced supplier portal with search feature
  • Designed machine-learning powered credit scoring system at the foundation of an $400 million securitization with AIG. Platform at scale had less than 40 bps in losses on over $5 billion in volume.

Vice President, Data and Analytics

FastPay
Los Angeles, CA
01.2016 - 12.2018
  • Led successful technology unit integration of AnchorOps corporate acquisition, including both IP assets and developer teams
  • Architected cutting edge payment platform ("ePay") to service new business from acquistion. Platform supports full suite of payment modalities (virtual card, check, ACH) with integrated automatic reconciliation and secure payment delivery. ePay manages $x billion in corporate spending yearly and is dominant player for payment management in media and advertising
  • Integrated 10 ERPs and accounting systems into the FastPay platform with bidirectional data sync. Capabilities of data sync included comprehensive AR & AP integration to feed FastPay line of business applications and ability to seamlessly pull finance reports to monitor borrower health
  • Transitioned FastPay's technology infrastructure software to AWS ECS, Docker, and Airflow while continuing to optimize platform and delivery features
  • Prototyped intelligent document management system (LEMUR) to improve client experience. LEMUR leveraged ML techniques to match unstructured PDF documents to FastPay loan ledger required for compliance. System processed tens of thousands of PDF's, saving clients from the onerous of task of manually curating these PDFs and saving countless hours

Director, Analytics

FastPay
Los Angeles, CA
10.2012 - 12.2015
  • Spearheaded creation of business intelligence unit at FastPay to systematically derive insights and extract value from first party data
  • Led team to automate majority of executive and financial reporting. Reporting included both financial compliance calculations and KPI's read out to executives
  • Designed and programmed initial release of the FastPay proprietary analytics solution ("BRAIN"). BRAIN implemented statistical methods to dynamically identify risk within the invoice factoring platform. This platform
  • Connected Plaid to integrate bank feed data with overall data pipeline feeding the FastPay risk program underlying its inoivce finance. Connection was integrated into intelligent processing engine that scanned terabytes of bank feeds per day for red flags using AWS Athena. System identified at-risk collections and competitor transactions with a high degree of accuracy by using both operator informed heuristics and basic machine learning
  • Implemented RStudio Shiny Server Pro to host advanced analytics tooling

Manager, Technology & Operations

FastPay
Los Angeles, CA
01.2011 - 09.2012
  • Collaborated on initial operational design of lending business, particularly with regard to verifying factored invoices
  • Built internal tools to improve efficiency of operations team and reduce human error
  • Automated critical daily data feed of loan portfolio consumed by senior lender (Wells Fargo Capital Finance)

Education

Bachelor of Arts -

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
2016

Skills

Python

Java

AWS

Data science

Platform architecture

Financial technology

Agile / SCRUM

Cloud development

Timeline

Vice President, Technology & CTO, Media

Avidxchange Inc.
07.2021 - Current

Chief Technology Officer

FastPay
01.2019 - 06.2021

Vice President, Data and Analytics

FastPay
01.2016 - 12.2018

Director, Analytics

FastPay
10.2012 - 12.2015

Manager, Technology & Operations

FastPay
01.2011 - 09.2012

Bachelor of Arts -

Harvard University

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