About Us
Stride Funding was built with students in mind. Our Income Share Agreements offer students an innovative alternative to student loans.
Team
Tess Michaels
Chief Executive Officer
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Serial entrepreneur
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Goldman Sachs
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Vista Equity
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MBA, Harvard Business School
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Impact Investing at Wharton
David Kafafian
Chief Operating Officer
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Serial entrepreneur - Early entrant into ISA space
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Investment banking at JPMorgan
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Senior Watson Analytics Consultant at IBM
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Harvard Law School graduate
Jan Jaro
Senior Manager, Partnerships & Finance
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ISAs and tech employment pathways at Opportunity@Work
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2 years of consulting at Strategy& and 2 years of private equity at H.I.G. Capital
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Northwestern Industrial Engineering & Economics
Brendan Florez
Senior Technology Consultant
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Serial entrepreneur
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Early entrant into ISA space as founder of Base Capital
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Former CEO of Lumni USA
Patrick J. Conner
Chief Revenue Officer
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Student financing veteran
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20+ years managing student loan portfolios at banks (Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Santander)
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Early hire at SoFi
Scott Russian
Director of Finance
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Finance Executive and Credit Expert
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Liberty Mutual Insurance
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Intel Corporation
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Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
Aidan O'Gara
Data Scientist
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Predictive income and financial models expert
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AI Researcher
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Winner of Amazon's 2019 Alexa Hackathon
Ellyse Spromberg
Customer Success Associate
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5+ years of customer support
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Graduate from Arizona State University
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Organizer for ASU 2019 PowHer conference
Student Supporters
Stride Funding was built with students in mind.
These remarkable student leaders at campuses across the country support Stride Funding.
Advisors
Deborah Quazzo
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Managing Partner of GSV Ventures
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Investor in Coursera, CampusLogic, Degreed
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16 years investment banking at Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan
Tina Sharkey
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Founder of Brandless (raised ~$300mm in venture funding)
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Serial entrepreneur
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Expert on D2C branding and community building
Dre Bennin
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CEO of Juvo Ventures
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Managing Director at Strada Education
Max P. Michaels
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Former Head of IBM Networks
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Investment banking (Financial Institutions) at Morgan Stanley
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Strategist at McKinsey, Cisco, AT&T
Doug Levin
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Founder of Black Duck Software (sold to Synopsys for ~$550mm)
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Harvard / MIT Faculty
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Expert on software development
Partners and Sponsors
Careers: Join the Stride Squad
We're currently hiring a Business Operations & Customer Success Manager, Director of Data Science and Advanced Analytics, and Customer Success Intern. Visit our Careers page for more info or email joinstride@stridefunding.com.
