Uplinq, a credit decisioning support platform for small business lenders, named former Wells Fargo leader Derek Ellington as its strategic adviser.  

“Most recently, [in] my role running small business at Wells Fargo, which is one of the largest small-business operations in the industry, I gained a lot of insight into gaps that continue to exist around making it easy for small businesses to access capital,” Ellington told Bank Automation News.

In moving to the fintech side, Ellington plans to work on filling those gaps, including access to capital, cultural differences and trust in banks, he said. 

“For me to be more front and center and lending my expertise and knowledge inside of the space to help with what the team [Uplinq] has already built, that’s a great opportunity for me to be on the front end of innovation and accelerating adoption in the market,” Ellington said. 

The gaps Ellington has identified and the solutions Uplinq provides help small-business owners applying for loans, Uplinq Chief Executive Ron Benegbi told BAN.  

Ellington leads with strong technology skills, leaning into innovation, API interfaces and how tech connects, Benegbi said. 

 “We felt that there was an alignment of values” with Ellington, Benegbi said. 

Ellington has also served as the Atlantic south region executive of business banking at Bank of America in the past, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

TD names Matt Boss as head of U.S. consumer banking 

TD Bank has named Matt Boss head of U.S. consumer banking, according to an April 16 release by the bank.  

Boss will oversee TD’s 1,100 retail stores, TD Auto Finance, contact centers and unsecured lending and digital sales, the release stated. He has been with TD since 2017 and previously served as U.S. head of credit cards and unsecured lending, the release stated.

Prior to joining TD, Boss was managing director of products and marketing of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, where he led product development for the commercial and retail banking arms of the Australia-based organization, according to the release. 

“We’ve built a strong franchise over the past few decades and have recently introduced a number of product innovations and capability enhancements, but we have so much more to do,” Boss stated in the release. “It’s as important as ever that we continue to evolve our strategic approach to the business to ensure we’re well-positioned to provide even more value to our customers and communities in the years to come.”  

ConnexPay names Peters CEO 

ConnexPay named Ben Peters to serve as the payments solutions company’s chief executive officer, effective April 1. 

Peters joined ConnexPay from digital claim payment processing platform Vpay, where he served as the chief operating officer, according to a ConnexPay release. He over as CEO from the company’s founder, Bob Kaufman, who became chairman of the board. 

“One of the most exciting things for us as a team that we will be working through will be the expansion of not only geographical markets, but also vertical markets,” Peters told BAN, noting that the company will explore the expansion over the next six to 12 months. 

ConnexPay, founded in 2017, has raised $145.1 million in total funding and is based in St. Paul, Minn., according to Crunchbase. 

Gayron named new CFO at CSI 

IT solutions provider CSI has named Ken Gayron as its chief financial officer, according to a company release on April 3. 

Gayron will manage the company’s finance and accounting functions, helping CSI make data-driven decisions in its growth phase, the release stated.

As the market prepares for a mergers and acquisitions wave, Gayron will aid CSI in M&A activities, David Culbertson, president and CEO of CSI, told BAN. 

“Everything we do, whether through organic or inorganic means, is designed to help community bankers achieve their growth goals and fill gaps in their product offerings and technology stacks,” Gayron told BAN. “Those criteria are driving our M&A strategy. … We have a strong appetite for M&A but will be diligent in evaluating targets to ensure they add clear and significant value to our community banking customers.” 

CSI is in a strong financial position  as it “expands its product offerings, seeks new companies to acquire and identifies new partnerships that accelerate our community banking customers’ capabilities,” Gayron said. 

Prior to joining CSI, Gayron served as the chief financial officer of media house Avid Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

Novidea names Heine new CRO 

Cloud-based insurance tech solutions provider Novidea has appointed Jeff Heine as its new chief revenue officer, the company announced in a release on April 11. 

Heine will oversee global revenue, sales and marketing, the release stated.

 “We are going to organize around our clients’ needs (versus system capabilities) and focus on thriving customer relationships around their business objective,” Heine told BAN. “Our strategy is to build out account management that focuses on customer success metrics, and overall, a revenue organization that meets a client’s needs at every point of the journey.” 

Novidea will focus on the property and casualty insurance market to drive revenue, Heine said. 

“The property and casualty market is facing so many challenges with growing losses from natural disasters, a changing business landscape with new technologies, including AI and green technology, massive growth in distribution of new products and channels, and many others,” Heine said. “We have the opportunity to introduce flexibility with our native cloud platform to support these needs.” 

Prior to joining Novidea, Heine served as the chief revenue officer of insurance service provider Betterview, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

KlariVis names chief agile officer 

Data analytics provider KlariVis added a chief agile officer to its executive leadership team, naming Kim Janney to the role, the company announced April 16.  

Janney, who has been in the tech industry for 25 years, started in her new role on March 11, she told BAN. She worked in program management at technology company Meridium and, most recently, automotive technology company Torc Robotics.

As chief agile officer, Janney is responsible for helping KlariVis adjust to changing circumstances, she said. She will “deliver incremental pieces of value or product to the customer early and often to get feedback so that when you finally are done with a project, you know it meets the needs because you’ve been showcasing it all along.” 

In the short term, she hopes to provide quick wins for KlariVis, while her long-term goal is to create strategic road maps for the company, she said. 

KlariVis clients include Century Bank and Trust, Community Financial Services Bank and Bank of Charles Town, according to the KlariVis website.