Uber finally hires a chief financial officer as it preps for IPO

Uber finally hired a chief financial officer to help it go public in 2019.

On Tuesday, the ride-share company announced that Nelson J. Chai will fill a role that has been vacant since 2015. Chai comes to Uber from the Warranty Group, a Chicago-based insurance and warranty provider where he served as chief executive. His resume also includes stints as president at CIT Group and CFO for Merrill Lynch & Co.

Uber, which anticipates filing for an IPO next year, has been without a CFO since Brent Callinicos left three years ago.

Speaking at Fortune’s tech conference last month, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi admitted that the search was “taking longer than I’d like” and he was “being picky.”

“I’m incredibly excited to bring on someone as experienced and thoughtful as Nelson,” Khosrowshahi said in a statement sent to CNN. “He will be a great partner for me and the entire management team as we move towards becoming a public company.”

Related: Uber cuts its losses, and revenue soars 63%

Last month, Uber’s head of global finance, Prabir Adarkar, left the company to become CFO at food delivery startup DoorDash. Several employees on the finance team are now helping with those duties ahead of a likely IPO.

Chai is one of several new hires in recent weeks to bolster Uber’s executive ranks. Last week, the company named a former NSA official, Matt Olsen, as its chief security officer. Uber also filled other key leadership roles in July when it hired its first chief privacy officer and its first data protection officer — a position required under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

CNNMoney (New York) First published August 21, 2018: 1:09 PM ET