They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 - Winnie Ling of Blend Labs, Inc.

Winnie Ling

Age: 39

Company: Blend Labs, Inc.

Practice Area: Corporate Governance

Title: General Counsel

Location: New York

Law School: Columbia Law School

Please describe two of your most substantial, recent wins in practice.

I led Blend through its $360 million IPO and NYSE listing in 2021, the pinnacle of its growth trajectory, which raised significant capital and elevated the company’s visibility and long-term credibility. As the primary in-house attorney, I was the bridge between the management team, board, internal stakeholders, and external deal teams. I led structuring and translated regulatory complexity into business strategy and decisive execution.

I also built Blend’s public company infrastructure—corporate governance frameworks, SEC reporting, investor and corporate communications, and more. Drafting policies is straightforward; the real challenge and opportunity is aligning on risk and priorities, grounding decisions in people and culture, and operationalizing them to deliver enterprise value.

Following the IPO, I helped drive a critical turnaround amid years of economic volatility—right-sizing operations, instilling financial discipline, and reshaping Blend into a built-to-last business. In 2024, I led a $150 million strategic investment from Haveli Investments, secured at a 44% premium. It was more than a capital raise; it represented a vote of confidence and long-term partnership with a firm known for deep fintech expertise. The transaction enabled us to repay all credit facilities, strengthening our balance sheet.

Both milestones underscore that in-house counsel are force multipliers, combining law, business fluency, and innovation to power what’s next.

What is the most important lesson you learned as a first-year attorney and how does it inform your practice today?

Early in my career at Cravath, a corporate partner told me—only half-jokingly—that I should know the business as well as the CFO. He emphasized that understanding a company’s financials wasn’t just the job of bankers and accountants, the best lawyers must be equally fluent in the numbers. He advised me to study every footnote in a company’s financial statements, analyze the details, and ensure I truly understood the business drivers behind them. That lesson stuck with me.

As General Counsel and Head of People & Strategic Operations at Blend, I always operate with the mindset that legal and business strategy are deeply interconnected. While my background is in corporate law, I now lead all aspects of Legal & Compliance, spanning commercial, product, regulatory, employment, litigation, and more. Whether structuring strategic transactions, negotiating with customers and partners, navigating consumer protection requirements, or resolving disputes, I focus on financial implications, operational outcomes, and market dynamics to drive both legal and business success.

This philosophy is embedded in the pillars that guide my leadership of the Legal & Compliance function: Unlocking business value – accelerating innovation and execution through proactive, solutions-oriented legal advice. Protecting the company –managing risk while empowering sustainable growth. Operational excellence – driving efficiency through people, processes, and automation. By applying these principles, I have become a trusted advisor beyond legal matters—helping executives, boards, and other stakeholders navigate complexity with clarity.

How do you define success in your practice?

Success is about maximizing opportunity and driving business impact. Legal & Compliance isn’t just a safeguard, it’s a competitive advantage, ensuring the company is well-positioned for what’s next. I measure success by how well my team balances expert legal advice with strategic agility, ensuring that we:

Create long-term value: Success means solving today’s challenges while anticipating future risks and opportunities. Legal should not just react—we proactively structure frameworks that fuel sustainable growth, regulatory resilience, and market leadership. We eliminate friction and empower innovation rather than slowing it down.

Take smart risks: I encourage my team to embrace calculated risks, making high-quality decisions with imperfect information. We assess risk not just through a compliance lens, but a business lens.

Act with urgency: We remove roadblocks and accelerate execution by embedding Legal early in strategic decision-making. Opportunities are everywhere—success means recognizing them quickly and making informed decisions that enable speed, efficiency, and responsible growth.

Build a dream team: High-performing legal teams collaborate across functions and influence all levels of the organization.

Success means fostering a culture of empowerment, accountability, and adaptability, while developing talent and expanding our role as trusted advisors beyond traditional legal matters. A truly effective Legal & Compliance function doesn’t just protect the business; it unlocks value, accelerates execution, and enables growth.

What are you most proud of as a lawyer?

I am most proud of embracing a growth mindset and empowering others to do the same. My career has been defined by a commitment to learning, evolving, and expanding beyond traditional legal roles to become a dynamic business leader.

In addition to Legal & Compliance, I oversee Human Resources and Strategic Operations, allowing me to drive organizational, financial, and strategic transformation beyond legal matters. At Blend, I have helped guide the company through key milestones and challenges during periods of market volatility and structural change, such as: Executing a successful $360 million IPO and NYSE listing in 2021, a defining moment in the company’s growth trajectory; Strengthening the company’s financial position, securing a $150 million strategic investment and refinancing debt facilities; Expanding internationally, establishing new offices in Mexico and India to scale the operations; and Achieving profitability in 2024 for the first time in Blend’s history, Optimizing operations while supporting product and go-to-market initiatives.

I often say, “we always reserve the right to get smarter”—because almost anything is learnable. Strive to be someone who other leaders want in the room when discussing the most difficult topics, whether legal or otherwise. True leadership is not just about navigating challenges or building consensus, but about empowering others to take ownership, challenge assumptions and achieve meaningful change.

Who is your greatest mentor in the law and what have they taught you?

Instead of one single standout mentor, my professional development has been shaped by lessons learned from friends, colleagues, and experiences that broadened my perspective. Having grown up in Australia, I moved abroad on my own as soon as I graduated from business and law school—first to London, then to New York—forging an international career and network from scratch in two of the world’s most competitive legal markets.

Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to meet people who reinforced my curiosity—not just about the law, but about what’s possible. They encouraged me to be bold in pursuing alternative paths: Someone should do this, why can’t it be me? Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, what if we focus on what could go right?

It’s almost hard to believe now, but the first time I ever set foot in the US was to take the New York bar exam! While working full-time in London, I borrowed some study materials from American colleagues, crammed for 10 days in Albany (as foreign applicants weren’t allowed to take the exam in NYC), and managed to pass—without a US law degree, any formal prep course or prior knowledge on the US constitutional system. That experience taught me that adaptability, resilience and bold decision-making open doors—and that success often starts with believing you belong in the room.

Tell us your two favorite songs on your summer music playlist.

“Cornelia Street” by Taylor Swift: A nostalgic tune about love, memory, and the places that hold meaning, wrapped in a shimmering summer melody. [And] “Calm Down” by Rema & Selena Gomez: An effortless blend of breezy and bold—feels like summer on repeat.

Winnie Ling of Blend Labs at the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia exploring the world’s largest salt flat.

Photo Illustration: Jonathan Hurtarte/Bloomberg Law; Photo courtesy of Winnie Ling