Business
FORMER META PAYMENTS LEADER AND GRUBHUB EXEC AKSHAT THANAWALA JOINS CARIBOU AS CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER
Caribou, a leading auto refinance platform whose purpose is to give consumers financial freedom to focus on what matters most, today announced Akshatt Thanawala has joined the company as Chief Product Officer. Thanawala was most recently leading the digital transformation of Meta's payment platform, and has held leadership roles at Grubhub, Orbitz, and Expedia. Thanawala, based in Seattle, will report directly to Caribou CEO Simon Goodall.
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[{"type":"text","content":"DENVER, Sept. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Caribou, a leading auto refinance platform whose purpose is to give consumers financial freedom to focus on what matters most, today announced Akshatt Thanawala has joined the company as Chief Product Officer. Thanawala was most recently leading the digital transformation of Meta's payment platform, and has held leadership roles at Grubhub, Orbitz, and Expedia. Thanawala, based in Seattle, will report directly to Caribou CEO Simon Goodall.","length":486,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Thanawala is a highly experienced product leader who has spent more than 25 years building and scaling product organizations at globally recognized consumer and technology brands. Most recently, he spent four years at Meta leading digital transformation of the company's payments platform as well as driving email and messenger engagement products. Previously, he built product and design organizations from the ground up at startups Moda Operandi and Tempest, where he also served as acting CTO. At Grubhub, he scaled logistics and restaurant operations and gained frontline customer insights by operating as a Grubhub driver himself. Earlier in his career, Thanawala played a pivotal role at Orbitz, contributing to the company's $1.6 billion acquisition by Expedia. He began his career at Cadence Design Systems, where he spent seven years learning the lasting value of cross-functional collaboration and team-driven innovation. Thanawala holds a MBA from Insead and BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester.","length":1040,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""Akshat brings not only an impressive record of results but also a humility and focus on building great teams that align perfectly with our culture and values," said Simon Goodall, Caribou CEO. "At Caribou, our values are clear: Give a Damn, Make the Assist, and Move with Velocity. Akshat exemplifies each of these, which is exactly what we need as we continue to scale and deliver on our promise of helping consumers take control of their car payments and achieve financial freedom."","length":505,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""I was drawn to Caribou for three reasons: the product, the size of the opportunity, and the team," said Thanawala. "The company's purpose is clear, an...