Afterpay names Elana Rubin as permanent chairman

Australia’s buy-now, pay-later financial tech firm Afterpay has appointed Elana Rubin as its new chairman.

Elana Rubin has been named as the new permanent chairman of Afterpay as the company’s value surges.

Australia’s buy-now, pay-later financial tech firm Afterpay has named Elana Rubin as its new chairman.

Rubin, who is currently interim chairman, brings deep experience in the financial sector to Afterpay, including experience in her roles as former chairman of Australian Super and former chairman at Victorian WorkCover Authority.

Afterpay, in a statement today, says she intend to retire from the ME Bank board following its June board meeting, but retain her non-executive director roles at Telstra and Slater and Gordon.

CEO and managing director at Afterpay, Anthony Eisen, said her permanent appointment as chair followed an extensive global search.

“The board deemed that Elana was best placed to lead the Board of Afterpay,” he said.

“Her significant contribution as a director since March 2017, backed by her outstanding performance in her capacity as interim chair, made Elana the most compelling choice.

“Her ongoing stewardship and focus on good corporate governance will continue to deliver value to shareholders,” Mr Eisen said.

Afterpay also named Sharon Rothstein as a new non-executive director. She is currently based in the US and sits on the board of Yelp, and is also an operations partner at growth equity firm Stripes Group.

Afterpay has been going from strength-to-strength from mid March during the pandemic with its shares lifting from $8.90 on March 23 to $47.22 now.

The surge in market value has seen co-founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen listed as billionaires.

A $300m investment this month by China’s Tencent, one of the world’s largest video game companies, has helped propel the share surge and business is blossoming.

Last week Ticketek said Afterpay would be integrated into its website and apps for customers buying concert tickets, once that becomes possible as lockdown restrictions lessen.