With advice from M&A veterans such as Merrill Lynch & Co.'s former COO of Americas investment banking, Colbert Narcisse, and Ken Kharbanda, AOL LLC's former head of corporate development, startup People Capital is looking to address a growing problem in the U.S. resulting form the economic crisis. The firm is a New York-based online student lending platform launching later this year.
So, why a student loan startup now? People Capital responded to our question, saying, "Recent events in the capital markets have led to overly harsh treatment of student borrowing. Not only have lenders fled the market, but also, those that have stayed are unable to best distinguish between good and bad risks. We aim to address both issues." The firm not only matches lenders to students but applies a credit ranking to people with a short credit history.
The firm says it created an advisory board because it operates in a space that encompasses student lending, consumer finance, credit ratings and new media. Besides Narcisse and Kharbanda -- who was
a panelist in our conference last year -- the board includes Petrina Dawson, counsel, receivership policy at the FDIC and formerly a senior managing director and general counsel of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services; Ivar Eilertsen, CEO and founding partner of Harbor Capital Technologies; and Gregory Webster, CEO of Fund.com, who covers corporate strategy, business development and acquisitions. Prior to that, Webster was president and CEO of HSBC Brokerage (USA) Inc.
The management team they'll be working with includes founder and CEO Thomas Shelton, a serial entrepreneur who has incubated businesses such as CyberStream Solutions, Strive Medical Technologies and Jeremy's Microbatch. Others include president and COO Al Alper, chief product officer and EVP of business operations Alan Samuels, chief information officer John Nerenberg and SVP of student loan operations Brendan Pryor. Earlier, Pryor worked at Sallie Mae in positions including director of loan originations and director of loan servicing/compliance.
The company also took on Robert Lavet to provide advice and assistance on regulatory issues. Lavet is with Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Versille PC and is the former general counsel for Sallie Mae. People Capital is expected to launch later this year. -
Baz Hiralal
Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum
Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
