Faire recruits first general counsel

Online wholesale marketplace Faire has hired Lauren Thomas as its first general counsel.

The company in November announced that its latest round of funding valued it at $12.4 bn and brought its total funding to date to more than $1 bn.

Thomas most recently was general counsel at Dutchie, one of the first national payments service providers for the cannabis industry. She helped the technology company operate in a complex regulatory and legal environment.

Before her time with Dutchie, she was the first general counsel and chief compliance officer at digital banking platform Good Money. In that role, she was responsible for building the legal, securities and compliance functions at the company, which directed 50 percent of its profits toward environmental and social justice initiatives through impact investments and charitable donations.

Previously, Thomas was corporate counsel at Block (formerly known as Square), where she managed the company’s equity and asset acquisitions, as well as 20 domestic and international subsidiaries. At Block, she was program co-ordinator for the Black Square Association and chaired Block’s first CSR committee, helping create the company’s first public report inclusive of diversity, inclusion and sustainability reporting.

Earlier in her career, Thomas was a corporate associate at law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. She says in a statement: ‘As the child of an immigrant and entrepreneur, the Faire mission deeply resonates with me. I am thrilled to join Faire and continue providing small business owners with the support and tools they need to thrive.’