Wharton FinTech Podcast - Garry Reeder, Vice President of Innovation and Policy at Center for Financial Services Innovation

Garry Reeder, Vice President of Innovation and Policy at Center for Financial Services Innovation

11/11/18 • 42 min

In this podcast, Christian Rolon (MBA '19) interviews Garry Reeder, Vice President at the Center for Financial Services Innovation. This episode was recorded live at the Financial Inclusion Summit. Garry leads the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI. In this podcast, Garry discusses CFSI's mission and investing activities, regulatory developments in fintech, and fintech and blockchain applications for the underbanked. Garry Reeder is the Vice President of Innovation and Policy at the Center for Financial Services Innovation. Garry also leads the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI. The Financial Solutions Lab is a partnership between CFSI and J.P. Morgan Chase. The Financial Solutions Lab invests in entrepreneurs and startups that are working on improving the financial health of consumers around the world. Past startups that have gone through the program include: Dave, Digit, EarnUp, LendStreet, Nova, Scratch, and WiseBanyan. Prior to his current role at CFSI, Garry had an extensive background in the public and private sector. Within the private sector, Garry has a decade of asset management experience, spanning across Ziff Brothers Investments and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Garry later went on to co-found Fenway Summer Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Fintech firms. Garry has also advised a number of financial service institutions around the regulatory landscape, first at BlackRock, where Garry led the Consumer Financial Services Advisory Practice, and then at Chain Bridge Partners, where Garry was a Managing Director. Garry also spent time in the public sector, specifically at the U.S. Treasury. At Treasury, Garry worked on the Auto Team, overseeing TARP's investments in the auto sector, and the General Motors IPO. Garry went on to serve as the Chief of Staff for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, helping to develop Project Catalyst. Garry has his BA from Yale, and his MBA from Columbia Business School. The Financial Inclusion Summit was organized by Rex Salisbury, the founder of Fintech Devs and PMs Meetup. The community has roughly 2,000 members, hosting monthly events highlighting many exciting Fintech firms in the Bay Area. Past Meetups have featured speakers from: a16z, Affirm, Branch, EarnIn, Plaid, SoFi, Wealthfront, and many others. Learn more at: https://www.fintechdevsandpms.com/.

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Jennifer Fitzgerald, CEO and Co-Founder of Policygenius

In this podcast, Jacob Decter (Wharton MBA ’19) speaks with Jennifer Fitzgerald, CEO and Co-founder of Policygenius. Policygenius is an online insurance marketplace that aims to streamline and simplify insurance buying for consumers, offering a wide array of insurance products including life insurance, disability insurance, renters insurance, and pet insurance. Beyond its product offering, Policygenius also offers practical financial and insurance advice and information in a digestible way for the average consumer. Policygenius is backed by investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Revolution Ventures, Susa Ventures, and AXA Venture Partners. In this podcast, Jacob and Jennifer explore the founding of Policygenius, the evolving insurance customer, some of the operations and operational challenges of running a start up in the insurance industry and the future of Policygenius and insurance distribution. Jennifer was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and is one of only four women founders in Fintech to raise over $50 million in funding. Before starting Policygenius in 2014, she and her co-founder, Francois de Lame, were management consultants at McKinsey & Company. Jennifer has shared insights in major publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and more. Early in her career, she was a Peace Corps volunteer and used to do standup comedy. Jennifer is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Florida State University.

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Nick Shalek, General Partner at Ribbit Capital

In our latest podcast, Christian Rolon (WG ‘19) is joined by Nick Shalek, a general partner at Ribbit Capital. Ribbit Capital is a leading venture capital firm focused on early stage firms across fintech verticals such as lending, insurance, wealth management, and blockchain. Ribbit Capital has made a number of investments across the fintech space, including: Affirm, Brex, Coalition, Coinbase, Credit Karma, Funding Circle, Gusto, Nubank, Revolut, Robinhood, Upgrade, and Wealthfront. In this podcast, Nick speaks about his path to venture capital, Ribbit's investment approach, regulation affecting fintech, and his view on the current investing and valuation landscape. Nick is a General Partner at Ribbit Capital, investing and serving on the board of a number of Fintech firms. As a firm, Ribbit Capital has made investments in many of the Fintech space’s leading startups - such as Coinbase, Revolut, and Robinhood. Nick has been at Ribbit Capital since 2012. Prior to Ribbit, Nick worked in Yale’s Investments Office, which manages the Yale University endowment. Nick also has experience as an operator, across Verne Global, Facebook, and Aspire Public Schools. Nick has a BA from Yale University, as well as an MBA and an MA in Education from Stanford University.