Introducing John Orta, General Counsel at Metromile

We’re rapidly growing at Metromile, so as we scale, we are excited to announce that John Orta has joined Metromile as General Counsel and will oversee our legal, HR and recruiting teams. Before Metromile, John was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at OpenTable (where you likely make all of your online restaurant reservations). In addition to serving on the executive team, he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s legal, HR, recruiting, fraud and risk teams, as well as the Chief Compliance Officer. John led the legal team during the company’s IPO and Secondary Offering in 2009, and OpenTable’s purchase by The Priceline Group in 2014. He also received the GC Impact Award from The Recorder in 2014 (a leading legal publication), so he’s kind of a big deal. To get to know John a little better, we had him answer a few quick questions.

John_Orta_Metromile

What excites you the most about joining Metromile?
I honestly can’t limit it to one thing. First, I love companies that help people, and at Metromile not only do we provide a great insurance product that can provide substantial savings to our customers, but our app also has a suite of features that makes car ownership easier. That is a fantastic combination. Second, the people that work here are world-class and I could not be more excited to join this wonderful team and tackle the opportunity in front of us.

How do you commute to work?
I’m a BART guy. Even when it is crowded, I enjoy it. What I really need to do, however, is ride my bike to BART and burn some extra calories. That should be my new year’s resolution (but it isn’t).

Where is your favorite place to road trip to?
Vegas!! Just kidding. The beautiful thing about the Bay Area is that you have road trips in every direction to satisfy whatever mood you’re in. During the winter, my family and I head to the snow to ski or snowboard. At other times, we’ll head to wine country or somewhere along the coast like Carmel, Stinson or Mendocino. On my current road trip to-do list is to hike the Lost Coast up by Eureka and then head up to Bandon Dunes for some golf.

Which Metromile app feature is most helpful to you: street sweeping alerts, ask a mechanic, car locator, or viewing driving stats?
I love driving stats. I think it is super helpful to better understand how much car ownership costs. The truth is often surprising.