Company

This is Spring Labs

Our Mission

We’re transforming data exchange with unprecedented privacy and security.

Our DNA

Our differences are our strengths, helping us find and pursue the best ideas, regardless of hierarchy. We don’t shy away from complex challenges – think big, plan big.

Our Values

Think like owners, because we are owners. Innovate and persist. Grow together. Empower and trust.

Team

A rapidly growing world-class team of proven entrepreneurs within the financial services space.

Co-Founders

Adam Jiwan

Executive Chairman & Founder

Adam is an established fintech entrepreneur, with more than 15 years of experience founding, investing and growing companies in the space. Before Spring Labs, Adam was a seed investor and founding board member of Avant. He was also the Co-Founder and Chairman of Future Finance, a student loan platform that’s raised more than $325M. Adam also acted as the CEO of UK/Asia for TPG-Axon, and held roles at Goldman Sachs, Soros Fund Management, and the Blackstone Group. Adam is a graduate of Harvard University.

Anna Fridman

Founder

Anna is a seasoned attorney with deep experience in regulatory financial issues. Prior to Spring Labs, Anna served as the General Counsel at Avant, managing a team of 40+ attorneys and compliance professionals. Anna also served as in-house counsel at Enova and holds a JD from UCLA Law.

John Sun

CEO & Founder

John is a technologist and entrepreneur with deep experience in credit and fintech. Prior to Spring Labs, John co-founded Avant, a fintech unicorn, where he served as the Chief Credit Officer and UK GM. John was also an Inc. 30 Under 30, and went through Y-Combinator Spring 2011 with DebtEye (acquired by Avant). John also formerly ran the Data and Analytics Team at Enova.

Leadership

Joel Eckhause

Chief Operating Officer

Joel has spent more than 20 years in financial services, holding C-level and executive-level positions ranging from product, marketing, origination operations, servicing and default operations, credit risk, and corporate strategy at companies such as Renew Financial, Bank of the West, Capital One, and HSBC. Most recently, Joel served as both the Chief Risk Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Renew Financial. Prior to his time in financial services, Joel was a consultant with Booz Allen from 1999 to 2004. Originally an engineer, Joel began his career at Ford Motor Company. Joel holds an MBA from the University of Michigan.

David Kravitz, PhD

Sr. Director of Research

David is a cryptography and information security expert with over 35 years of experience applicable to blockchains, payment systems, IoT, smart grid, digital rights management and government voice and data critical infrastructure communications. He began his career at the National Security Agency, where as Senior Technical Advisor he combined his exceptional skills in protocol and algorithm design to profoundly enhance the security posture of communications, as stated in the Certificate of Achievement awarded by the Director of NSA. He invented the Digital Signature Algorithm/DSA (FIPS 186) and was the principal architect of Membership Services identity management for Linux Foundation Hyperledger Fabric. David is a graduate of Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University and University of Southern California.

Matt Smith

Chief Technology Officer

Matt has been building software for the past 15 years, focusing since 2014 on distributed systems, cryptography, digital identity, and blockchain technologies. Previously Director of Engineering at Gem, Matt designed and built security-centric enterprise and consumer-facing blockchain products. Prior to that, Matt worked on high-speed data transfer networks, video transcoding, augmented reality, and manufacturing automation systems. Matt holds a degree in Computer Science from Syracuse University.

Cris Neckar

Information Security Advisor

A seasoned veteran of the information security industry, Cris has over 15 years of leadership experience ranging from software engineering to penetration testing and digital forensics. Prior to joining Spring Labs, Cris co-founded Divergent Security, a top-tier offensive security assessment service provider. Previously, Cris was an original member of Google’s Chrome Security Team, managing the security of the Chrome web browser and developing state-of-the-art advancements in software security and end-user defense. Prior to his work at Google, Cris led the Application Security practice for Neohapsis (now Cisco Systems). As a security researcher, Cris has discovered, and responsibly disclosed, critical vulnerabilities in software infrastructure ranging from Microsoft Windows to Cisco WebEx, and has assisted in the investigations of both high-profile data breaches and nation-state intelligence campaigns. Cris also served as a curriculum advisory board member and professor for DePaul University’s cyber security graduate school program.

Advisors

Spring Labs has brought on top advisors from financial services firms and regulatory bodies to help guide our company to success.

Sheila Bair

Former Chair of the FDIC

Sheila Bair served as the 19th Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 until 2011, and was named by Forbes as the 2nd Most Powerful Woman in the World both in 2008 & 2009 for her prominent role in repairing the 2008 U.S. Financial Crisis. Before her appointment to the FDIC, Ms. Bair was the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Andreas Beroutsos

Former Global Head of Financial Institutions at McKinsey

Mr. Andreas Beroutsos was Executive Vice President and Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure at Canada's second-largest institutional asset manager of pensions and other long-term investments, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). Previously, Mr. Beroutsos was the founder and Managing Partner of One Point Capital Management, a private equity firm, and partner and Senior Managing Director at Eton Park Capital Management.

Gary Cohn

Former Director of the U.S. National Economic Council

Most recently, Cohn served as the 11th Director of the U.S. National Economic Council and as the chief economic advisor to the President of the United States. Cohn previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for more than 25 years and held a variety of leadership positions in the firm’s Securities Division, including Global Co-Head of the Equities and Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Divisions.

Raj Date

First-ever Deputy Director of CFPB

Raj Date was the first-ever Deputy Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As the Bureau’s second-ranking official, he helped steward the CFPB’s strategy, its operations, and its policy agenda. He also served on the senior staff committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and as a statutory deputy to the FDIC Board.

Ray Lane

Former President & COO of Oracle

Raymond J. "Ray" Lane is a General Partner at Great Point Ventures and a Partner Emeritus at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Ray also serves on the board of Hewlett-Packard and was its former Chairman. During the 1990’s, Ray was President and Chief Operating Officer of Oracle Corp. During his eight-year tenure, Oracle exhibited phenomenal revenue growth from less than $1 billion in 1992 to more than $10 billion.

Richard Levy

Founder at Victory Park Capital

Richard Levy is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Victory Park Capital. He oversees the firm’s investment and operational activities. Mr. Levy is also the Chairman of the firm’s Senior Leadership Team and Investment Committees.

Bobby Mehta

Former CEO of Transunion and HSBC NA

Siddarth N. “Bobby” Mehta served as the President and CEO of TransUnion from 2007-2012. Previously, Mr. Mehta held a variety of senior positions at Household International, HSBC Finance Corporation, and HSBC North America Holdings, including CEO of HSBC North America Holdings, CEO of HSBC Finance Corporation and Group Executive (Credit Cards) at Household International.

Nigel Morris

Co-founder of Capital One

Nigel Morris co-founded Capital One in 1994 and served as their President until 2010. Nigel also co-founded QED Investors in 2008, where he now serves as their Managing Partner.

Grigore Rosu

Founder and CEO of Runtime Verification, Inc.

Grigore Rosu is a researcher, educator, and entrepreneur in the areas of formal methods, software engineering and programming languages. Before joining UIUC in 2002, he was a research scientist at NASA Ames. He was offered the CAREER award by the NSF, and the Dean's award for excellence in research and the outstanding junior award by UIUC.

Manolo Sanchez

Former Chairman & CEO of BBVA Compass

Manolo Sanchez is the former Chairman, President & CEO of BBVA Compass, where he grew BBVA’s subsidiary in the US from 2K to 10K employees and from $3B to $100B in assets. He played an instrumental role in transforming BBVA Compass into a digital banking powerhouse, undertaking initiatives such as the development of their mobile and online banking services suite.

Guy Schory

Former Head of Strategic Initiatives at eBay & PayPal

Guy Schory is an investor, board director and advisor focused on Commerce, Financial Technologies, Cybersecurity, Data, and Analytics. Previously, Guy served for 10 years in leadership roles at eBay and PayPal, where he led Strategic Initiatives globally, reporting to the CEO. In this position, he oversaw initiatives including the establishment of R&D centers, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic partnerships.

David Siemer

General Partner at Wavemaker Genesis

Founder of Wave Financial, Wavemaker Partners, and a technology focused investment bank, Siemer & Associates LLC, which he sold to CEC Capital in 2016. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago.