BLNG Belong Acquisition Corporation

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

On February 17, 2023, Belong Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) appointed Joel Washington to serve as the Company’s President and Chief Investment Officer. Peter Saldarriaga, the Company’s current President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, will retain his positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Washington, age 39, is an experienced founder and investor in tech startups.  Most recently, in 2015 he founded and served as Chief Operating Officer of Zero Financial, Inc., a neobank that launched a credit card, debit card, bank account, and cash advances, and led the sale of the company to a large fintech in 2021.  Previously, in 2013 he was a Founder of Shift (NASDAQ:SFT), an online used car retailer, which went public in 2020 via a business combination with a special purpose acquisition company.  Earlier in his career, from 2007 to 2011, he worked as an investor at Comcast Ventures, investing in seed through growth stage startups, and has also worked on angel investments.  Mr. Washington began his career as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where he worked from 2005 to 2007 for various corporate clients in the tech, media, and telecom sectors, and on private equity due diligence engagements.  He earned a degree in Government & Economics with honors from Harvard College, and later an MBA from Stanford University. Mr. Washington has no family relationships with any of the Company’s directors or executive officers and he has no direct or indirect material interest in any transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.