# Funding Circle Names Rob Straathof as CEO, Pending Regulatory Approval

By Sonny Jang

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/people/48799
Published: 2026-11-04T21:19:39.000Z
Updated: 2026-11-04T21:19:39.000Z
Section: People

> The Grover chief is expected to take the role in the first half of 2027. Lisa Jacobs will lead the handover and leave by September 2027.

Funding Circle Holdings plc named Rob Straathof, Grover’s chief executive, as its next CEO on Nov. 4, with the appointment subject to regulatory approval. Straathof is expected to join the UK small-business finance platform in the first half of 2027.

Lisa Jacobs will remain chief executive through the handover and leave the role by September 2027 at the latest. She told the board on Sept. 8, 2026, that she intended to step down as CEO by no later than September 2027.

Straathof previously led Liberis for a decade. During that period, Liberis provided more than $4 billion in funding to more than 100,000 small businesses.

“The opportunity ahead remains outsized: to use technology and data to say yes to more of the UK’s small business owners,” Straathof said.