Wonga’s fallen soldiers: Errol Damelin, Tim Weller and Niall Wass – its lost chief executives
To lose one chief executive may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. Unfortunately, Wonga has just lost its third: today it emerged Tim Weller, who had been the company's interim chief exec since May, stepped down in October, according to filings at Companies House. Which just seems sloppy…
So who are the embattled payday lenders fallen execs?
Tim Weller (2012-2014)
Wonga's latest disappearing exec joined the company as chief operating officer in 2012, before stepping into the interim chief executive role left open by his predecessor's departure.
Prior to this, he had been chief financial officer and treasurer of energy intelligence software provider EnerNOC since 2009.
Weller has also been a video game designer, software developer and instructor, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
He holds a bachelors and masters degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois.
Niall Wass (2013 – 2014)
Wass joined Wonga in January 2013 as the company's chief operating officer before being promoted to the top job in December. Before that, he had been chief commercial officer at online gambling company Betfair, as well as working for investment company Brait Private Equity and Accenture.
He quit his role as chief executive at Wonga in May this year, after just six months at the helm, saying that after a "busy and productive" time at Wonga, he "felt the time was right to take a new opportunity elsewhere".
Still: Wass doesn't seem to be a man to shy away from controversy. He's now at car service app Uber as its senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific, overseeing the company's international expansion.
Errol Damelin (2006 – 2014)
Wonga founder Damelin was educated at Cape Town university in South Africa and then Boston University, and had founded two other companies before setting up Wonga with business partner Jonty Hurwitz in 2006.
Back in 2012, he told Londonlovesbusiness.com that the intended to make Wonga as big and influential as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Paypal.
In November last year, he took a step back, moving from the role of chief executive to chairman.
However, he later stepped down from the position of chairman in June 2014. Media reports said that Damelin has grown tired of defending Wonga amid scathing press coverage.