Community development financial institution Aura, a fintech lender based in San Francisco, has hired an experienced in-house attorney to lead its legal department, the organization announced Monday.

Sven Kaludzinski was appointed as general counsel and corporate secretary. He will report to Aura's CEO, James Gutierrez. Kaludzinski began Monday, and he is the company's first general counsel.

In a statement, Kaludzinski said: "My roots are in the south Rio Grande Valley in Texas so I have a deep connection to the communities that Aura serves. I look forward to working with the broader team to grow our business and help more people obtain affordable loans and achieve financial prosperity."

He explained in an interview that early on in his career he had the opportunity to work on environmental issues and that he wanted the opportunity to contribute to social and economic justice issues.

"I really wanted to get back into the social justice and economic realm, given the growing inequality," Kaludzinski said.

He said he realized the opportunity at Aura was everything he was looking for.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he most recently worked as the general counsel at Ygrene Energy Fund in Petaluma, California. He also has been the head of legal, residential and small commercial at SunEdison and was at one time an associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in Los Angeles. He graduated from the USC Gould School of Law in 2007, according to the profile.

"Sven brings deep legal experience, a passion for social justice and a personal story that makes him the perfect fit for Aura. As Aura continues to grow, Sven will build a strong legal team, find ways to expand the business and help us fulfill our mission of providing affordable loans to hard-working people in America," Gutierrez said in the news release.

Aura provides small loans to families and has developed a cloud-based lending technology that focuses on low-income consumers. Aura is available in 1,200 locations across California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona, according to the company.