Jonathan Mildenhall joins Dave as Chief Marketing Officer
Dave announced that Jonathan Mildenhall has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer leading all growth and brand marketing initiatives as well as partnering with the product team to build a best in class product experience for the Dave customer. Bringing with him decades of experience building the world’s most iconic brands, the move comes as Dave sets forth a new mission–to create financial opportunity that advances America’s collective potential.
The former Airbnb CMO will continue as Chair of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, the brand consultancy he co-founded with Neil Barrie that this year alone has won important assignments from Bumble, Headspace, Condé Nast, GoPuff, Memphis Meats, Mars Inc. and Unilever. Barrie has been promoted to the role of global CEO.
In this newly created role Mildenhall will accelerate Dave’s rapid growth, spearheading efforts to bring the company to the 100MM+ Americans who deserve to be emancipated from the inequities of the legacy financial system. He will also guide the creation of a product experience that will further Dave’s development as a financial app that can be used each day to help its customers improve their finances.
Launched in 2017 as a way to help avoid overdraft fees, Dave has grown into one of the top ten most valuable challenger banks in the world and was recently named the 26th most disruptive private company in the world. Dave helps its more than seven million customers budget, avoid overdraft fees, find work and build credit. To date, Dave has helped its customers avoid hundreds of millions in overdraft fees and earn more than $100MM through its job-finding feature, Side Hustle.
“Dave gives its customers the financial fluidity they need to navigate life’s ups and downs. It’s more than an app–Dave is a stepping stone to new beginnings. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to practice what I preach on the inside of Dave and continue to serve my clients as Chair of 21CB on the outside. It’s a natural extension of our consultancy’s mission to create the most influential brands of our time. I’m grateful to Jason, CEO of Dave and Neil, global CEO of 21CB for creating the opportunity for me to do so.” – Jonathan Mildenhall.
Mildenhall’s passion for advancing the financial health of Dave’s customers stems from his own life experience. He was born in a project in North England and was the first person in his family to graduate college. In 1990, he was the first minority to become a graduate trainee at McCann, a top London creative agency.
While at Airbnb for more than three years, Mildenhall helped increase the company’s valuation from $1B-$35B. Prior to his time at Airbnb, Mildenhall was SVP of Marketing and Design at Coke and spearheaded work that landed the prestigious ‘Creative Marketer of the Year’ at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2018, he co-launched brand consultancy 21CB, where he remains as Chair and has provided brand guidance to companies including Peloton, Pinterest, Uber, NextDoor, Headspace and Bumble.
