Leaders in Lending

Anna Counselman views operations through the lens of the customer – that is, understanding the customers’ pain points and ensuring solutions make it onto the product and engineering roadmap.
It’s all about uncovering how to make your product or service better by rallying the relevant teams—product, engineering, and ML—around the single goal of empathizing with the user and solving their problems.
As the Co-founder and Head of People & Operations at Upstart, Anna Counselman knows this process intimately. She shares how Upstart approaches product development and navigates the new era of hybrid work.
We discuss:
Anna’s journey to Upstart
The importance of understanding the customer problem in creating cohesive product and operations teams
Innovative approaches to hybrid work
Key lessons learned from Google


To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.
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From credit cards to buy now pay later, Jerry O'Flanagan, EVP at First National Bank of Omaha, and his team are pushing the boundaries of what big banks traditionally offer their customers—and they’re overcoming the obstacles formed by legacy systems and processes to do it.
It’s all due to a willingness to go out on a limb and do something truly unique within the institution.
In this episode, we talk about Jerry’s philosophy on innovation and how he operationalizes it within the company. Plus, he shares his thoughts on some of the big trends in banking today.
We discuss:
Building and maintaining a team for a credit program
The impact of buy now pay later
Gaining inspiration for innovation from fintechs
The strategy behind standing up a national digital bank


To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

Dave Girouard, Co-Founder & CEO at Upstart, believed that young people were "potential rich yet cash poor"—and that dynamic caused them to make poor financial decisions for themselves and the economy as a whole. 
There had to be a better way to provide people with affordable access to credit, on reasonable terms, when they needed it. 
Using AI and machine learning provided that new way forward. 
In this episode, Dave shares how the company came to be and how Upstart provides transformative access to credit for all. 
We discuss:
The problem statement for Upstart and the choice to venture into unsecured consumer loans
The application of AI in the credit process
The choice to partner with financial institutions
Adding value in auto, small business, and mortgage loan spaces  


To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. 
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

With the help of AI technology, the subjectivity with approving or denying borrowers for credit has been removed and replaced this with objective reasons that every person can work to improve if necessary.  

In this episode, Margie Click, CEO & President at Agriculture Federal Credit Union, explains how lending has changed and how AI can help institutions lend more inclusively while minimizing risk.

We discuss:

The 4 Cs of lending & creditworthiness
Finding the right fintech partner
Seizing the opportunity in unsecured loans
The evolution of fraud



To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

There’s a delicate balance between balancing risk and reward. Michael Reed, Chief Risk Officer at WSFS Bank, emphasizes how risk managers can partner with business owners to achieve “risk-adjusted rewards.” 

In this episode, Reed explains how to bring risk teams and business owners together to achieve an informed decision. He also discusses the importance of end-to-end digital transformation to create an optimal customer experience and evaluating the right fintech partnerships to help achieve this goal. 

We discuss:
The philosophy of providing risk-adjusted rewards rather than preventing risk
The symbiotic partnership between banks and fintechs
How the industry is doing at delivering frictionless customer experiences
The interplay between risk and automated digital experiences



To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

Consumers have been adopting fintech solutions at an increasing rate. In fact, according to a Harris Poll conducted in conjunction with Plaid, the number of US consumers using fintech grew by 30 points last year to 88 percent. 
The advent of open banking has enabled the flow of data from financial institutions into the fintech ecosystem. However, it’s not a one way street—that data is also enabling banks to gain a more complete picture of consumers. 
In this episode, Raja Chakravorti, Head of Financial Access at Plaid, explains how this multi-directional flow of consumer data is moving the financial industry towards a world of interoperable financial solutions. 
We discuss:
- How Plaid is unlocking financial freedom for all 
- The evolution of open finance and open banking
- How banks benefit from a multi-directional flow of financial data
- The shift from data as the advantage to using data to improve the customer/member experience 
To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. 
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

The more banks lend, the better they do and the broader their customer base becomes. 
With AI & ML, banks can lend to a larger set of customers — those who are perceived as high risk — with a greater level of certainty that there won't be undue losses. 
Despite this, many banks and regulators remain uneasy about the outcomes. 
Tom Faughnan , EVP & Director of Consumer Lending at Associated Bank , is bullish on the potential of AI & ML. In this episode, he shares what needs to happen for regulators to give fintechs the green light. 
We discuss:
- The opportunities and hurdles of AI & ML in credit decisioning
- How to find the right fintech partner in the space
- Aligning internal parties across business lines during the vendor management process
- Navigating the mortgage space as rates rise 
To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or on our website . 
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

For a long time, banks didn't fully understand the value fintechs provide.   
As partnerships with fintechs have grown, banks are experiencing that value firsthand, and they've also discovered an economic model that is a win-win for both.  
In this episode, Matt Deines, President & CEO at First Fed, shares how he vets potential partners and how he ensures that the economics are aligned so that everyone can benefit.  
We discuss: 
-Why digital transformation starts with mindset 
-First Fed’s fintech partnership journey 
-How to align financial incentives in a bank-fintech partnership 
-Ways to better target customers across the credit spectrum 
To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. 
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

The community reinvestment act (CRA) is a decades-old law requiring banks to meet the credit needs of their community, but with all the changes that have taken place in banking over the last 10 years, how can FIs can partner with fintechs to best serve their communities. ? 
In this episode, Nathalia Artus, SVP, Director of Community Development and Reinvestment & CRA Officer at Atlantic Union Bank, discusses how her bank approaches CRA and how strategic partnerships will play a part in community development in the future.
We discuss: 
- How the digital transformation affected the customers CRA serves 
- Partnering with fintechs to extend credit to borrowers 
- How each bank approaches CRA differently 
- Ways to measure impact on the community and successfully track data 
To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website. 
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.

Customer needs are changing, and along with them, borrowing behaviors.

How does this impact consumer lending and banking?

Rich Longo, Investor and Growth Advisor at Nxtsoft, joins the show to share his insights into the trends that are reshaping the financial landscape.

We discuss:

- Where younger generations are getting financial advice

- How Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and eCommerce are changing the landscape

- Crypto initiatives poised to upend traditional practices

- How traditional institutions should adapt to these trends

To hear more from Leaders in Lending, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Leaders in Lending on your favorite podcast player.