Our Team
Melissa Koide
CEO & Director
Prior to establishing FinRegLab, Melissa served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Consumer Policy. In that role, Melissa helped to build the first government offered preretirement savings product,
the myRA. She also established the $5 million Innovation Fund to support research and strategies to improve
consumers’ financial health and their access to safe and affordable financial products and services. Melissa has
testified before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees, and she has spoken extensively to
policy, industry, and consumer advocacy audiences. She is also a member of the New York State Department of
Financial Services’ Financial Innovation Advisory Board.
Nancy Castillo
Chief Operating Officer
Nancy Castillo joins FinRegLab as the Chief Operating Officer, leading the organization’s internal operations to support FinRegLab’s strategy and growth. She brings a passion for building high-impact teams, expertise in financial health, and experience in connecting ideas to action using holistic approaches. Prior to joining FinRegLab, Nancy was a senior leader at Financial Health Network, building the Operations and Program functions of the organization and leading the U.S. Financial Diaries, a multi-year research study to shed light on the financial lives of low- to moderate-income households nationwide. Nancy earned a Bachelor of Arts in political studies and Latin American studies with a minor in economics from Pitzer College, a member of The Claremont Colleges. As a Fulbright Scholar, she conducted research into the connections between remittances and economic development in Ecuador.
Kelly Thompson Cochran
Chief Program Officer
Prior to joining FinRegLab, Kelly helped to stand up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she served most recently as the Assistant Director for Regulations. In that capacity, she oversaw rulemaking and guidance activities under the Dodd-Frank Act, Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and various other federal consumer financial laws. Kelly previously was counsel at WilmerHale, where she advised financial institutions on a wide range of legal and regulatory matters including product development, compliance, enforcement, and litigation. Kelly also conducted research on financial services innovation, community reinvestment, and other topics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gillous Harris
Research Analyst
As a Research Analyst, Gillous conducts qualitative and quantitative research across FinRegLab’s workstreams and brings a passion for economic inclusion and development. He holds an M.A. in International Relations with a focus in International Economics and Finance from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Gillous received his B.A. from William & Mary in International Relations and History, where he graduated summa cum laude and with Departmental Honors for his thesis analyzing international remittance flows.”
Kerrigan Molland
Senior Finance & Business Operations Manager
As the Finance Manager, Kerrigan is responsible for managing the accounting, finance, and operations functions of FinRegLab. Before taking this role, he worked as a consultant to FinRegLab and a number of other nonprofit organizations and startup businesses by establishing their financial forecasts and business plans and providing market research. Kerrigan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Paula Ochiel
Senior Research Analyst
Paula is joining FinRegLab as a Senior Research Analyst, facilitating and supporting qualitative and empirical research from design to execution, project management, and communication. She brings extensive expertise in helping data-driven organizations utilize data effectively to make informed decisions. Her experience leading cross-organizational projects to advance financial inclusion and her recent role as an Impact Manager at ICA, a non-profit Community Development Financial Inclusion (CDFI), demonstrate her commitment to promoting equitable access to financial and economic opportunities. With a background in international development, Paula is excited to bring her diverse experiences to FRL and contribute to its mission.
Karla Renschler
Senior Manager of Small Business Research
As FinRegLab’s Senior Manager of Small Business Research, Karla leads research initiatives to understand how innovations in lending to small businesses can drive financial inclusion. She brings extensive experience as a researcher across non-profit, management consulting, and private sector roles. Prior to FinRegLab, Karla worked in small business card lending at Capital One, designing credit policies to expand access to credit for subprime small businesses. She brings a passion for financial equity and inclusion and a first-hand understanding of the challenges industry actors face in applying innovations in underwriting. Karla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Global Studies from UCLA, where she graduated summa cum laude with Departmental Highest Honors.
Zishun Zhao
Senior Data Scientist
As the Senior Data Scientist, Zishun leads the internal data science initiatives for FinRegLab. Prior to joining FinRegLab, Zishun held various model development and risk management positions with American Express, JP Morgan Chase, and Barclays. He led the development of traditional and machine learning models for credit underwriting, marketing, fraud prevention, and collections for consumer and small business lending products. He also served as a model risk manager for a diverse range of models used by the retail banking industry. Zishun holds a PhD in Economics and a Master’s in statistics from Washington State University.
Board of Directors
Marla Blow
Board Chair
Marla Blow is the President and Chief Operating Officer, Skoll Foundation. Previously, she was the Senior Vice President, Social Impact North America, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She was also the founder and CEO of FS Card, a startup credit card company, and served as a Partner with Fenway Summer. Marla was part of the Implementation Team to stand up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and ultimately served as the Assistant Director for Card and Payment Markets, where she shaped the CFPB’s regulatory priorities in these markets. Prior to joining the CFPB, Marla spent seven years in a variety of functions at Capital One in the credit card business. She is a Henry Crown Fellow and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network as well as a member of the U.S. Capital Chapter of YPO. She previously served on the Board of Directors of FactorTrust, a provider of underbanked consumer data, analytics, and risk scoring solutions and Care.com, the world’s largest online marketplace for finding and managing family care. Marla holds an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Alex Acree
Director
Alex Acree is Managing Partner of the Takoma Group, a hybrid advisory and investment firm, and Partner at Mitchell Sandler, a boutique financial services-focused law firm. Previously, he served as Partner and General Counsel of Fenway Summer. Earlier in his career, Alex was an attorney at a major international law firm, where he advised financial institutions on a wide range of legal and regulatory matters in connection with business combinations, capital markets transactions, corporate governance, and compliance issues. Alex also regularly advised sponsors in connection with the formation and management of private investment funds. Earlier in his career, Alex held a series of senior positions at early-stage companies. Alex is a graduate of Boston College and holds a JD from Yale Law School and an MBA from Yale School of Management. While at Yale, Alex was a director of a student clinic that helped to launch a de novo bank to cater to financially underserved communities.
Jo Ann Barefoot
Director
Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO & Founder of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, Cofounder of Hummingbird RegTech, and host of the podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government and is writing a book on financial innovation and regulation. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She’s an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, and advises financial companies and governments worldwide. She serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is an Executive Board Member of the International RegTech Association (IRTA), a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and a member of the California Government Operations Agency Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo Ann previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network (previously called the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), and previously served on the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board. Jo Ann has published nearly 200 articles and is a popular keynote speaker, addressing thousands of people annually throughout the world.
Mike Calhoun
Director
Mike Calhoun is President of the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and policy institute focusing on consumer lending issues. CRL is the policy affiliate of Self-Help, which has provided over $6.4 billion in financing for first-time homeowner loans and small business credit as the nation’s largest community development lender. Mike has been an active participant in consumer financial legislation and regulation, and he has more than thirty years’ experience in consumer lending. He has authored numerous papers on the subject and has testified often before Congress and many state legislatures. Prior to joining CRL, he led several lending divisions at Self-Help, including the secondary mortgage market program. He is a former member and chair of the Federal Reserve Consumer Advisory Council. Mike received his B.A. degree in economics from Duke University, and his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina.
Karen Croxson
Director
Karen Croxson is the is the Deputy Chief Economist at the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, where she leads the FCA’s scientific research program, co-leads several AI and Digital Markets Policy initiatives, and participates in a wide variety of international working groups. Karen previously was a principal at QuantumBlack, where she led teams of data scientists, engineers, and domain experts in using advanced analytics to solve strategic problems. She has also worked as an academic economist at Oxford University and a strategy consultant at McKinsey. She holds a PhD in game theory and applied econometrics from Oxford, where she is a guest lecturer in Economics for Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a member of the advisory board for its MSc in Social Data Science program.
Amy Friend
Director
Amy Friend is a Senior Advisor to FS Vector and a member of the Board of Directors at Varo Money Inc. Amy was previously the Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief Counsel at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury that regulates and supervises the federal banking system. In that capacity, Amy served on the agency’s executive committee and oversaw all of the agency’s legal activities and licensing functions. Amy led the team that developed the agency’s strategic initiative on responsible innovation resulting in the establishment of the Office of Innovation and the special purpose national bank charter for fintech companies. Before taking on this role, Amy was a Managing Director at the Promontory Financial Group where she advised financial services companies about regulatory compliance. Previously Amy held a number of positions in the U.S. Congress, including Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs where she led the Committee’s work in crafting the Dodd-Frank Act. Amy has also served as an assistant chief counsel to the OCC, focusing on consumer privacy, data security, and credit reporting, and as an associate in the law firms of Jenner and Block, and Brownstein, Zeidman, and Schomer.
Courtney Hodapp
Director
Courtney Howard Hodapp is Head of Community Engagement for Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase. Grounded in the belief that there is a pressing need to break down structural barriers to opportunity, JPMorgan Chase is undertaking significant, long-term and coordinated efforts to drive an inclusive recovery. Courtney manages the team responsible for building and maintaining authentic and enduring relationships with key stakeholders across the United States to support the firm’s ability to understand, address and respond to community needs. Courtney has held several leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, including Head of National Public Engagement and Program Officer for Global Philanthropy in Ohio and Minnesota. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she served as Philanthropy & Community Affairs Manager for Battelle, the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization. In addition, she is a member of a number of nonprofit boards focused on economic and social mobility, including Prosperity Now and FinRegLab. Courtney received a B.A. in History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and an M.S. in Journalism from Ohio University’s Scripps School of Communication. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two sons.
Kabir Kumar
Director
Kabir Kumar leads Flourish’s global policy and ecosystem building efforts. He supports both nonprofits and for-profits to create transformative solutions that improve people’s lives. Kabir joined Flourish with a deep background in international development focused on financial inclusion, market-based interventions, and technology use. He was most recently with CGAP, where he led a number of initiatives over the course of 10 years including designing and implementing market-based interventions to expand responsible financial services in key South Asian markets and helping to develop and secure funding for CGAP’s digital finance strategy. Kabir began his career at The World Bank helping them to adopt a gender strategy. He has worked in over 15 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Chuck Muckenfuss
Director
Chuck Muckenfuss has more than 40 years of senior experience in the financial services industry, including as a Partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, and Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Chuck is a recognized leader in the field of financial institution supervision and regulation. He is an advisor and investor at the intersection of finance and technology who is active in the formation and evolution of for-profit and non-profit enterprises, including financial technology (FinTech) companies, as well as a director of Grasshopper Bank. Chuck is immediate past Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of City First Bank of DC, a national bank certified as a community development financial institution, as well as Operating Partner of Vista Capital Advisors. He is also Clinical Visiting Lecturer at the Yale Law School, where he teaches and supervises a clinic whose achievements have included the establishment of an FDIC-insured community development bank in New Haven, Connecticut. Chuck received his BA from Vanderbilt University, and his law degree from Yale Law School. He was law clerk to the Honorable William E. Miller of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Lisa Rice
Director
Lisa Rice is the President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), a consortium of more than 200 private, non-profit fair housing organizations, state and local civil rights agencies, and individuals that is the only national organization focused solely on ending discrimination in housing. Prior to joining NFHA she served as the President and CEO of the Fair Housing Center of Toledo, Ohio, a private non-profit civil rights agency, and the President and CEO of the Northwest Ohio Development Agency, a community development financial institution. She is a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Board of Directors, Center for Responsible Lending Board of Directors, JPMorgan Chase Consumer Advisory Council, Mortgage Bankers Association’s Consumer Advisory Council, Freddie Mac Affordable Housing Advisory Council, Urban Institute’s Mortgage Servicing Collaborative, and Quicken Loans Consumer Advisory Forum, Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Advisory Council, and Berkeley’s Terner Center Advisory Council. She is a published author contributing to numerous books and journals addressing a range of housing fairness and finance issues.
Board Advisors
Bob Annibale
Advisor
Bob Annibale is a Senior Fellow at the University of London, SOAS, focusing on social and inclusive finance, social entrepreneurship, and financial and racial justice. He worked in senior business and corporate positions at Citi in Athens, Bahrain, London, Nairobi, and New York. He is widely recognized as the founder and Global Director of Citi Inclusive Finance (2005-2020) and his additional leadership of Citi Community Development, which is focused on financial inclusion, immigrant integration, affordable housing, and racial justice in the US. Since inception, Inclusive Finance has mobilized over $3.8bn in financing across 36 countries, developing new products with partner institutions and clients that are focused on serving the financial needs of underserved and low income communities, particularly women, working across Citi’s businesses and geographies. Bob currently serves on the boards of Accion, Grameen America, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., and the advisory board of Center for Inclusive Finance. He served three terms on the FDIC Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion and was a founding member of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs Advisory Council on Financial Education and Inclusion.
Richard Berner
Advisor
Richard Berner is Executive-in-Residence at the Center for Global Economy and Business at the NYU Stern School of Business, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Economics. He conducts research, gives talks, teaches, and helps to advance Stern’s financial stability initiatives. From 2013 until 2017, Berner served as the first Director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR), established by The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to support the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Council’s member organizations, and the public. From April 2011 to 2013, Berner was Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, where he advised the Secretary on financial and regulatory issues and worked to stand up the OFR. Berner was a Managing Director, Co-Head of Global Economics and Chief U.S. Economist at Morgan Stanley from 1999 to 2011. He also held senior economist roles at Mellon Bank, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers, Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., and the DC office of Wharton Econometrics. Berner served on the research staff of the Federal Reserve in Washington. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and at George Washington University.
Sarah Davies
Advisor
Sarah Davies has over 20 years experience in the financial services sector, serving as an executive leader and innovator in the analytics and decision science field. She previously was the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Nova Credit and the Senior Vice President of Product, Analytics and Research at VantageScore Solutions, LLC where she led the development of the VantageScore credit scoring models. She has authored numerous whitepapers and research insights on consumer credit behavioral analysis. She holds several patents in both the credit analytics and airline optimization fields. She is a frequent speaker and educator on credit risk and consumer behavioral analytics.
Max Levchin
Advisor
Max Levchin is an investor and advisor to emerging technology companies. He was previously the chairman and chief executive officer of HVF, a startup lab focused on extracting insights from recordable information. He is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Affirm, a small dollar credit lender offering credit based on alternative data for creditworthy people with thin or no credit file. Max co-founded PayPal and was its Chief Technologist for years. More recently, he co-founded Confinity Inc. in December 1998, and served as the Chief Technology Officer and a director. He also serves as chairman of the boards of directors of Yelp Inc. and Kaggle Inc., and as a director of Evernote Corporation.
Hans Morris
Advisor
Hans Morris is managing partner of Nyca Partners, a fintech VC in New York and San Francisco. He is the chairman of the board of Lending Club, and a board member of portfolio companies AvidXchange, Boomtown, Payoneer, and SigFig. Nyca has invested in several mortgage technology companies, including Blend Labs, Ethos, Scratch, and Clara. From 2010 to 2014 he was managing director and advisor at General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm. From 2007 until 2010 he served as president of Visa Inc., and from 1980 until 2007, he worked at Citigroup in several operating and management roles, including CFO and head of finance, technology, and operations for Citi’s institutional businesses, COO of the investment bank, and head of the financial services group at Salomon Smith Barney. He spent the first six years of his career working with state housing agencies, and was also head of mortgage finance at Smith Barney.
Miles Reidy
Advisor
Bob Miles Reidy serves as a Partner Emeritus at QED. He advises QED portfolio companies and serves on a number of their boards. Prior to QED, Miles served as the Chief Financial Officer for Audax Health, Inc. and was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Network Solutions. He also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Sears Holdings Corporation. Miles spent almost a decade in several executive roles at Capital One Financial Corporation, a publicly traded consumer finance bank. Miles also serves on the Boards of the Royal Bank of Canada, US, Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Easter Seals of Baltimore/Washington. He holds a B.S. from Georgetown University and a M.S. from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Conrod Robinson
Advisor
Conrod Robinson is a Risk Management executive with significant experience (30+ years) building Risk and Marketing Analytics teams. He has extensive expertise and experience in Consumer Risk Management, Marketing Analysis, Consumer Risk Modeling and Model Risk Governance. Conrod leads JPMorgan-Chase’s Consumer and Community Banking (CCB) Risk Insights group and is a member of the CCB Risk Leadership team. Prior to this role Conrod was responsible for the Chase Card Services Portfolio Management Risk team as well as the CCB Recession Readiness team. Conrod re-joined Chase in 2019 from Barclays, where he served as the Chief Risk Officer for their US based Credit Card Business. During Conrod’s previous tenure at JPMorgan-Chase (2005-2016) he held various senior Risk Management roles, including leading Credit Card Risk Strategy and Policy, Credit Card Loan Loss Forecasting and Credit Card Risk Modeling. Additionally, he served as Model Risk Officer for the Consumer and Community Bank spanning all Consumer products and models – (Card, Mortgage, Auto, Retail and Business Banking) and all functions (Risk, Finance, Marketing and Operations).
David Silberman
Advisor
David Silberman has been involved in consumer finance issues from a wide range of perspectives for over three decades. As President and CEO of Union Privilege, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, he led the development and oversaw the delivery of a range of consumer financial products and services to union members. After leaving Union Privilege, David served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of the Kessler Financial Services, a privately-held company providing marketing and advisory services to financial institutions and their affinity-group partners. Following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, David joined the implementation team for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and was named the Associate Director for the Division of Research, Markets, and Regulations. In 2016-2017, David also served as the Acting Deputy Director for the CFPB. Mr. Silberman retired from the CFPB in 2020, and now serves as a Senior Advisor to the Center for Responsible Lending and the Financial Health Network’s Financial Solutions Lab. He also has been named an adjunct professor at Georgetown’s School of Public Policy and at Harvard Law School, from which he graduated. Mr. Silberman began his legal career as a law clerk to Chief Judge David Bazelon of the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Corey Stone
Advisor
Corey Stone is a Senior Advisor to Oliver Wyman’s North American Financial Services practice in New York. He specializes in the consumer finance markets and ancillary markets for consumer data and delinquent debt. Prior, he served as an Assistant Director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he built and led an office responsible for conducting research, industry outreach, and policy development in the markets for consumer reporting, debt collection, liquidity lending, and deposit accounts. Corey was Executive Vice President of American Payment Systems (now part of Fiserv). He helped the company become the country’s largest in-person bill payment network and launch one of the first general purpose reloadable debit cards. He was also CEO of Pay Rent, Build Credit, an alternative credit reporting company that enabled lenders to access consumers’ rental and utility bill payment history for underwriting decisions. Corey was named Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Center for Financial Services Innovation in 2018 and is a member of the advisory team to the Aspen Institute’s Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative on Consumer Debt.
Stephen Van Meter
Advisor
Stephen Van Meter was Deputy General Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he also served as Acting General Counsel at various times, most recently from April to November of 2021. He came to the Bureau from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where he was Assistant Director of the Community and Consumer Law Division. Before serving at the OCC, he worked in the Legal Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at the law firm of Ropes & Gray, and as Law Clerk to the Honorable Francis P. O’Connor of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and of Harvard Law School.