Former TIAA CEO and President Roger Ferguson Jr. has joined the Notarize board of directors, the company announced in a release on Thursday.
Under Ferguson’s management, TIAA more than doubled its total assets to over $1 trillion. Ferguson retired from TIAA on March 31 after 13 years.
Besides his time at TIAA, Ferguson also served as vice chairman of the board of governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System and served on groups including payment system oversight, reserve bank operations, and supervision and regulation.
“Roger’s deep knowledge about the industries we service, and the challenges and opportunities in innovation and digital transformation, makes him an invaluable addition to our team,” said Pat Kinsel, Notarize CEO. “Amid the continued demand from consumers, SMBs, and Fortune 500 enterprises for Notarize’s product, Roger’s background as a proven leader in financial services, and his decades of experience in government policy gives him a unique perspective to contribute to the company’s next phase of growth.”
Ferguson noted that the past 18 months have shown “incredible market demand” for Notarize’s technology, as more of the industry moves online as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“[Notarize’s] technology has been validated at scale, even among the most sophisticated financial firms,” Ferguson said. “I’m excited about the present, but I am also excited about what the longer-term future holds for Notarize as they move beyond notarization and tackle the complexities of secure digital identity.”
It’s been a banner year for Notarize, which increased revenue 600% year over year, according to a company press release. In March, Notarize announced a $130 million Series D funding round led by fintech venture capital firm Canapi Ventures, bringing its total funding to-date to $213 million. Notarize also closed a $35 million Series C funding in March 2020.
“Creating the online notarization category and getting here has been no small feat, and like many pioneers before us, has come at great effort and expense,” Kinsel wrote on the Notarize blog. “Building a platform to comply with a matrix of more than 4 million federal, state, county, industry, and commercial rules has been equally challenging, but critical. There is no universal online notarization experience and there are no shortcuts to providing a service people can rely upon.”
In February, Notarize announced it would be offering free notarizations to certain people in an effort to eliminate racial covenants in title insurance documents. The issue was brought to light by Windermere Real Estate, which publicized that title documents for homes around the Seattle area included racist language. The service is currently available in Washington, with availability coming to Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, California, Oregon and Arizona in the near future.
