Lana Lodge

Lana Lodge

Executive Vice President of Business Operations, MPOWER Financing

Lana Lodge (Bronipolsky) is the Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Corporate Secretary at MPOWER Financing. With more than 12 years of experience in financial services as well as two in nonprofit management, she combines her expertise in both fields in her work at MPOWER. Prior to joining MPOWER, Lana developed new trading models and control processes, managed $6.4 billion in ETF assets, and supervised numerous teams in compliance and operations at ProShares Group in Bethesda, Maryland PIMCO in Newport Beach, California. Lana is fluent in Russian and holds a B.S. in Economics, a B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University, and an M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

MPOWER provides student financing for the global citizens of tomorrow. Graduate School Loans. No Cosigner Required. Services: Graduate Loans, No Cosigner Loans, MBA Loans, No Credit History Loans.

One loan at a time, we’re expanding the U.S. and Canadian higher education market to serve more of the planet’s highest-potential individuals, regardless of income, family background, or gender. In the process, we’re enabling tomorrow’s doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, and business and government leaders to realize their full potential and make powerful contributions to the U.S. and Canadian economies and emerging markets worldwide.

How do we do this? Making credit decisions using a forward-looking model centered on these students’ extraordinary potential rather than the traditional backward-looking model that requires an established U.S. credit history, collateral, or a cosigner – all barriers to financing that international students typically face.

Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) & Parental Leave Packages

We value disconnecting from the office to recharge our batteries. You’ll enjoy 3 weeks vacation, 3 unrestricted floating holidays, and sick time (yes, that’s separate from vacation). And we offer maternity AND paternity leave!

True Life/Work Balance

We take work-life balance seriously. You’ll have the option to work from home, daily check-ins and check-outs ensure you don’t need to think about work after hours, and nobody expects you to be tethered to email while you’re on vacation.

Professional Development Programs

We want you to grow professionally. Every team member gets an allowance of $1,000/year towards courses, conferences, or other means of self-improvement. We also offer a free LinkedIn Learning account and plenty of in-house mentoring, team development, and knowledge sharing.

A transparent and productive workplace

You get feedback monthly to help you grow and be more effective. Bi-weekly all-hands meetings and annual company offsites keep us aligned, connected, and productive. We believe that working in an enlightened and non-hierarchical workplace benefits your mind AND your health. 

Here is a website that measures the work culture of a business: 

https://www.comparably.com/companies/mpower-financing/work-culture

Mpower, the top company on American Banker’s Best Places to Work in Fintech list for 2022, helps connect international students to the financing they need to attend college in the United States and Canada. This mission of “breaking down barriers to education,” as CEO Manu Smadja puts it, is personal to each of the company’s U.S. employees.

Those who have not personally sought a student loan or migrated for their education have family or close friends who have. As pat as the cause might sound, it is fundamental to what makes Mpower a great place to work, according to Smadja.

“When you’re all working together toward a common goal, the passion and energy can be infectious,” he said.

That mission continues to drive Mpower and its culture of helping and empowering everybody on the team. For example, employees receive stock options as part of their employment package. “We strongly believe that owners make the best employees and that a rising tide should lift all boats,” Smadja said.

This empowerment also extends beyond the office. Mpower offers each employee five paid days off a year for volunteering, and its COVID-19 sick-leave policy applies when caring for a colleague or relative.

According to Smadja, four pillars make Mpower different as an employer: diversity, equity and inclusion; professional development; performance; and a non-hierarchical company structure.

Equity is a core piece of the Mpower product and strategy, according to Smadja. The company has headquarters in the U.S. and India, partly because Mpower’s employees hail from 15 countries and speak 18 languages.

“We employ people of different faiths and residencies, including U.S. citizens, permanent residents, visa holders, and DACA recipients,” Smadja said.

The company has a dedicated learning and development manager who focuses on creating companywide growth opportunities. Employees also have an annual allowance of $1,000 they can use for courses, conferences, or other self-improvement means.

Mpower employees give and receive feedback monthly, and the company has weekly all-hands meetings to help “keep us aligned, connected and productive,” Smadja said.

That regular feedback is also part of the company’s nonhierarchical structure. Smadja said Mpower’s culture “strongly encourages employees to share feedback across departments and levels,” 

“Mpower’s international leadership team, their commitment to support employees, the energy and passion of the employees, and high employee retention were important factors in our decision” to invest, he said.

Even strong teams face considerable challenges. Smadja said Mpower’s culture “was tested when we went remote due to the pandemic.” He wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible by making sure programs offered in the office, including monthly two-way feedback sessions and the company’s women-in-tech working group, were continued virtually.

As of April, Mpower was starting to shift back with the initiation of a hybrid work environment, with two days a week in the office. The shift has been accompanied by increased investment in remote work.

“Our teams have long worked in multiple locations and were not always physically connected, but the pandemic has taught us how to utilize digital technology to better connect teams, manage projects collectively, delegate tasks, and empower each other,” Smadja said.