MRU Holdings is led by a senior management team with substantial experience in building successful financial services and consumer lending businesses. Seasoned professionals with student loan, banking and investment banking experience along with a strong marketing and operations team, are executing the company's strategic growth plan.
Ed McGuinn is the Company's chief executive officer and has served on the Board of Directors as chairman since July 2004. In addition to his duties at MRU Holdings, Ed is also the president of eLot, Inc. and its subsidiary interest eLottery.com (formerly known as Executone, Inc.), a telephony services and e-commerce provider for the governmental lottery industry. Prior to eLOT, Ed was president and chief executive officer of Limitrader.com, the first Internet based trading platform for new issue and secondary trading of corporate bonds. Prior to Limitrader.com, Ed was senior managing director and head of the equity capital markets and corporate finance for two investment banking boutiques. From 1981 to 1992, Ed was managing director and member of Lehman Brothers Fixed Income Operating Committee. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Ed was a senior manager with Ernst & Young in the audit and management consulting divisions. Ed sits on the board of directors of eLOT, Inc. and Enigma Software and on the advisory board of a venture capital company. Ed is a graduate of Colgate University.
Vishal Garg
Co-Founder, Co-President, Secretary and Director
Vishal Garg is one of the Company's co-founders. He is the Company's co-president and secretary and has served on the Board of Directors since July 2004.
Prior to MRU Holdings Inc., Vishal was a founder and managing partner at 1/0 Capital LLC and Schwendiman Technology Partners LLC, hedge funds focused on investments in emerging markets. At Schwendiman, Vishal managed a group of funds focused on emerging markets for large clients such as Bank Julius Baer, Credit Suisse Group, Republic National Bank/HSBC, Pictet & Cie., among others. In addition, he was the portfolio manager for a $15 million frontier markets managed account for Goldman, Sachs Commodities Corp. Prior to 1/0 and Schwendiman, Vishal was with Morgan Stanley in the Latin America Investment Banking and M&A groups with a focus on telecom, technology and media companies. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he was with VZB Partners, as the Asia Pacific portfolio manager for the Strategos Fund, managing an investment portfolio of $50 million, and co-managing a $10 million managed account for Rockefeller & Co. The Company and its founders have been recognized by Fast Company's Fast 50 (2006) and listed among BusinessWeek.com's Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs (2006). Vishal graduated Beta Gamma Sigma with highest honors from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Raza Khan
Co-Founder, Co-President, Assistant Secretary and Director
Raza Khan is one of the Company's co-founders. He is the Company's co-president and assistant secretary and has served on the Board of Directors since July 2004. Prior to MRU Holdings, Inc., Raza co-founded Silk Road Interactive, a consulting company advising clients on business and financial strategy, brand development and marketing, and technology. Raza worked with clients such as Sony Music, the White House Historical Association, Computers4Sure, Blades Board Skate, and RMH, a subsidiary of Advanta, among others. Raza has collaborated on the development of various innovations in the financial services sector including the development of human capital based investment instruments for which he has been cited in numerous articles and news segments including the Financial Times and CNN. He has lectured at the CATO Institute and the Harvard Business Club regarding investing in human capital. The Company and its founders have been recognized by Fast Company's Fast 50 (2006) and listed among BusinessWeek.com's Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs (2006). Raza attended New York University.
Jonathan Coblentz
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Jonathan Coblentz is the Company's chief financial officer and treasurer. Jonathan joined MRU in April 2007. In 1992, Jonathan began his structured finance career in the Asset Backed Finance Group of The First Boston Corporation (now Credit Suisse). During the nearly five years he spent there he structured and executed securitizations for customers over a broad range of asset classes. As part of this process, he helped various student lenders develop their student loan securitization programs. After leaving First Boston in 1997, Jonathan joined Goldman Sachs & Co., where he worked initially as an asset backed banker and later joined the firm's Principal Finance group. Prior to leaving Goldman in 2004, Jonathan led the student loan finance team, which successfully re-established the firm's presence in the student loan ABS market. In the last two years prior to joining MRU, Jonathan worked in the structured finance group at Fortress Investment Group, sourcing and analyzing investment opportunities in consumer and commercial finance and the insurance industry. Jonathan graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, receiving a B.S. in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Economics.
John P. Derham
Chief Marketing Officer
John Derham is the Company's chief marketing officer, reporting to Raza Khan, co-founder and president. John joined MRU in October 2007. John is responsible for the development and execution of all marketing activities in the organization, including brand marketing for MyRichUncle. He joins MRU Holdings as a seasoned expert with nearly 20 years of marketing and business development experience in credit cards and mortgage loans both domestically and abroad. His diverse marketing background coupled with a highly analytical approach to solving problems has enabled him to drive growth in many ways. Prior to joining MRU, John served as SVP and chief marketing officer of Advanta Bank Corp., among other roles, such as SVP of strategic business development and SVP of decision support, over a span of 15 years. John was SVP of marketing at JPMorgan Chase in their direct-to-consumer mortgage unit and director of business analysis and business development for a division of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He is a graduate of the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University.
Director, Chairman of Nominating Committee and Member of Audit and Compensation Committees
Elected 2006
Michael Brown has served on the Board of Directors since February 2006. Michael is a general partner at Battery Ventures, a global venture capital and private equity firm. He serves on the Board of Directors of Fingerhut Direct Marketing, a privately held database marketing company; Outlook Soft Corporation, which provides unified, predictive performance management solutions, and Trade King, an online discount broker. Prior to Battery Ventures, Michael was a member of the High Technology Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked on a variety of debt and equity financings and merger and acquisition assignments. Prior to that, he was a financial analyst at Goldman's Financial Institutions Group.
Director, Chairman of Compensation Committee and Member of Nominating Committee
Elected 2005
David Bushley has served on the Board of Directors since July 2005. David is senior vice president and director of compensation for Bank of New York Mellon and was formerly on the Board of Directors at Education Lending Group, Inc. Prior to the merger of Mellon Financial Corp. and Bank of New York, he was director of compensation and benefits for Mellon Financial Corporation. Prior to joining Mellon, David served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Amdura Corporation and as senior vice president and chief lending officer for mortgage banking at the Dime Savings Bank. Prior to this, David spent nine years with Merrill Lynch & Co., where he held a variety of senior management positions, including the position of president of Merrill Lynch Mortgage Company and president of Merrill Lynch Private Capital.
Sunil Dhaliwal has served on the Board of Directors since February 2006. Sunil is a general partner at Battery Ventures, a global venture capital and private equity firm, where he has made or managed a number of investments in the areas of information technology, specialty finance and business services. Sunil serves on the Board of Directors of Netezza Corporation, a privately held company that develops highly scaleable data warehousing projects, and Fintura Corporation, a specialized management services and operating company addressing the needs of the financial services sector across credit cards, student loans and home equity lending. Prior to Battery Ventures, Sunil was in the investment banking division of Alex Brown & Sons, Inc., where he was a member of the High Technology Group. At Alex Brown, Sunil executed public equity financings, private equity financings, and mergers and acquisitions in the communications and software industries.
Gregory N. Elinsky is a co-founder and senior managing director at Keane Advisors, LLC. A practiced investment advisor for nearly two decades, Mr. Elinsky was previously a vice president for the Private Client Services Division of Goldman Sachs before moving his business to Merrill Lynch. He is well versed in asset allocation modeling, single stock risk management, option and derivative strategies, as well as qualified ESOP's. Mr. Elinsky is also a member of the board of directors for the Southeast Region for the Second Mile, Tammac Corporation, Impeva Labs and Free-Fi Networks.
Richmond T. Fisher
Director, Chairman of Audit Committee and Member of Nominating Committee
Elected 2005
Rick Fisher has served on the Board of Directors since March 2005. Rick is the co-founder and managing director of RaceRock Capital Partners, LLC, a closely-held private equity firm that provides expansion and acquisition capital to growth companies. Prior to RaceRock, Rick was founder and managing partner of Race Point Partners, LLC, a specialized business consulting firm serving private equity, venture capital, banks and other organizations in need of specialized executive skills in the areas of risk assessment, stressed and distressed portfolio assessment, interim executive leadership and business turnaround. Prior to founding Race Point Partners, Rick was senior vice president of global sales with Standard & Poors Investment Services and a member of their senior operating committee. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer at Standard & Poors Securities, Inc.
Vishal Garg is one of the Company's co-founders. He is the Company's co-president and secretary and has served on the Board of Directors since July 2004.
Prior to MRU Holdings Inc., Vishal was a founder and managing partner at 1/0 Capital LLC and Schwendiman Technology Partners LLC, hedge funds focused on investments in emerging markets. At Schwendiman, Vishal managed a group of funds focused on emerging markets for large clients such as Bank Julius Baer, Credit Suisse Group, Republic National Bank/HSBC, Pictet & Cie., among others. In addition, he was the portfolio manager for a $15 million frontier markets managed account for Goldman, Sachs Commodities Corp. Prior to 1/0 and Schwendiman, Vishal was with Morgan Stanley in the Latin America Investment Banking and M&A groups with a focus on telecom, technology and media companies. Prior to Morgan Stanley, he was with VZB Partners, as the Asia Pacific portfolio manager for the Strategos Fund, managing an investment portfolio of $50 million, and co-managing a $10 million managed account for Rockefeller & Co. The Company and its founders have been recognized by Fast Company's Fast 50 (2006) and listed among BusinessWeek.com's Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs (2006). Vishal graduated Beta Gamma Sigma with highest honors from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Raza Khan
Co-Founder, Co-President, Assistant Secretary and Director
Raza Khan is one of the Company's co-founders. He is the Company's co-president and assistant secretary and has served on the Board of Directors since July 2004. Prior to MRU Holdings, Inc., Raza co-founded Silk Road Interactive, a consulting company advising clients on business and financial strategy, brand development and marketing, and technology. Raza worked with clients such as Sony Music, the White House Historical Association, Computers4Sure, Blades Board Skate, and RMH, a subsidiary of Advanta, among others. Raza has collaborated on the development of various innovations in the financial services sector including the development of human capital based investment instruments for which he has been cited in numerous articles and news segments including the Financial Times and CNN. He has lectured at the CATO Institute and the Harvard Business Club regarding investing in human capital. The Company and its founders have been recognized by Fast Company's Fast 50 (2006) and listed among BusinessWeek.com's Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs (2006). Raza attended New York University.
Andrew Mathieson
Member of Compensation Committee
Elected 2006
Andrew Mathieson has served on the Board of Directors since January 2006. Andrew is founder and president of Fintura Corporation, a specialized management services and operating company addressing the needs of the financial services sector across credit cards, student loans and home equity lending. Prior to Fintura, Andrew was a founding member and managing director of InfiStar Corporation, a leading provider of marketing and risk management solutions for credit card issuers, and also served as a director of InfiCorp Holdings, Inc. Prior to InfiStar, Andrew was the founder and principal of Mathieson Consulting, a strategy and general management consultancy, where he assisted First Data Corporation with a number of projects including the development of its three-year strategic plan. Prior to Mathieson Consulting, Andrew was director of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's national consulting practice. Previously Andrew was with United Airlines, where he managed new product development and distribution planning for consumer products; and with Citicorp Diners Club, where he developed new management information and forecasting systems to support the personal card business group.
Ed McGuinn is the Company's chief executive officer and has served on the Board of Directors as chairman since July 2004. In addition to his duties at MRU Holdings, Ed is also the president of eLot, Inc. and its subsidiary interest eLottery.com (formerly known as Executone, Inc.), a telephony services and e-commerce provider for the governmental lottery industry. Prior to eLOT, Ed was president and chief executive officer of Limitrader.com, the first Internet based trading platform for new issue and secondary trading of corporate bonds. Prior to Limitrader.com, Ed was senior managing director and head of the equity capital markets and corporate finance for two investment banking boutiques. From 1981 to 1992, Ed was managing director and member of Lehman Brothers Fixed Income Operating Committee. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Ed was a senior manager with Ernst & Young in the audit and management consulting divisions. Ed sits on the board of directors of eLOT, Inc. and Enigma Software and on the advisory board of a venture capital company. Ed is a graduate of Colgate University.
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