Uber Technologies Inc. today appointed Wall Street veteran Nelson Chai as chief financial officer, filling a position that has been vacant since 2015, in preparation for a near-future initial public offering.

Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in May that he’s looking to launch the IPO during the second half of 2019, while anonymous sources claiming the target date will be toward the end of that year.

A CFO is critical for an IPO, and Uber hasn’t even had a head of finance to handle CFO tasks since May 2017, when Gautam Gupta left. So Chai will play a key role in carrying out the public offering.

The executive previously served as president of publicly traded commercial lender CIT Group Inc., spent a brief stint at Bank of America Corp. and had earlier held the role of CFO at electronic stock exchange Archipelago. He is credited with having helped lead that company’s stock market debut, as well as its eventual merger with Nasdaq Inc.

Chai most recently served as the president and CEO of The Warranty Group Inc., a Chicago insurer. He was appointed to the position by TPG Capital, which is a stakeholder in Uber. Chai told Reuters that his relationship with the private equity giant is what led him to the new role at the ride-hailing company.

As CFO, the executive will have his work cut out for him. Uber must to convince investors to back its IPO despite massive quarterly losses that reached $819 million in the three-month period ended June 30. Adjusting for certain items such as interest and taxes, the company lost $614 million compared with $773 million the year prior.

Chai may move to widen Uber’s streamlining efforts to strengthen its balance ahead of the IPO. One potential target for cuts could be the company’s troubled autonomous vehicle division. The Information reported last week that investors are pushing the company to sell off the unit because it has been costing between $125 million and $200 million per quarter to run. 

Chai told Reuters that he will officially start his new role next month. He will take over responsibilities previously held by Prabir Adarkar, who as head of global finance was Uber’s most senior finance executive before departing for meal delivery startup DoorDash Inc. last month.

Photo: ell-r-brown/Flickr