UPTEMPO - Key Persons
As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Cicolini brings years of experience in developing technology operations for start-ups, turnarounds and rapidly growing companies. Prior to joining upTempo, Mr. Cicolini was Managing Director for JV Holdings LLC, an investment firm focused on mobile and financial technology, and was the founder of Spartan Interactive LLC, a mobile platform company. He also played an active role in the financing and operating of The Card Collaborative International (TCCI). Previously, Chris served as EVP of Operations for United Payroll Systems, LLC, a prepaid financial services and payment in company, where he spearheaded the development of a middleware platform that allowed the use of multiple banks and processors through a single platform. Earlier in his career, Mr. Cicolini was responsible for Mergers and Acquisitions in the Telecommunications and Prepaid Financial space for Draper Holdings Business Trust. Mr. Cicolini is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park.
Job Titles:
- Corporate Director
- Director & Executive Vice President, Capital Markets
- EVP, Corporate Development
- Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors
Mr. Ewart is a corporate director who was the co-founder and the former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Fountain Asset Corporation from 2003 until October 2017. Previously, he was a market analyst with A&E Capital Funding Inc. and Bradstone Equity Partners Inc. between 1998 and 2002 and Vice President of Quest Investment Corporation between 2002 and 2003. He has experience with bridge financing, financial analysis, quantitative modeling, equities trading and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Ewart holds an economics degree from McGill University.
Mr. Ewart is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) in Canada and a Director for the non-profit Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation, which provides financing and strategic guidance to entrepreneurs.
As EVP, Corporate Development for upTempo, Mr. Ewart leads the transaction/deal team working with management to evaluate strategic opportunities and acquisitions.
As Chief Revenue Officer, Ms. Douglas brings over 25 years of experience in banking, lending and payments. Prior to joining Uptempo, Ms. Douglas was Senior Vice President of Credit Card & Unsecured Lending at Scotiabank, where she led a multi-faceted business transformation, that doubled the business in 3 years. Previously she was Chief Marketing Officer and VP Partnerships at JP Morgan Chase Card Services. Earlier in her career, she also held senior marketing roles at Royal Bank and American Express.
A well rounded executive in the financial services industry, Ms. Douglas has led teams in product development, sales, marketing, digital, loyalty, analytics, finance, compliance, operations and partnerships. Much of her career has been focused on driving growth, with an emphasis on innovative consumer acquisition strategies. While she has a proven track record of building plans that deliver results, Ms. Douglas is also passionate about creating a seamless customer experience.
Ms. Douglas has a business administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and completed the executive leadership program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive Officer
As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Michael brings 30 years of banking, technology, fintech and lending experience to the company. Having raised over $1 B for recent ventures that became dominant market players within 2 years of launch, Mr. Hilmer understands the governance, discipline and relationships that come together in a rapidly scaling environment.
An innovative thought leader in the financial technology space, Mr. Hilmer's open banking vision is underpinned by the fundamental belief that new regulations create more opportunity for innovation around the customer experience. The value of data collected through the experience will be returned back to the consumer for the first time in their historical banking history, and the benefits of their transactional data history will result in lower consumer banking and borrowing costs over time.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
- Board Member of Clover Fund Solutions
- Employees at IPREO
- Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development
As Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Mr. Trimarco brings 25 years of banking and FinTech experience to the company. He was the original founder of UpTempo's core payment management business, providing capital and expertise to start the business in 2006.
Previously, he has held positions with GE Capital and Lehman Brothers where he led the charge on financial engineering of complex structures while utilizing cutting-edge technology. He also applied his financial expertise in successful securitizations and tax arbitrage/derivative structures.
Additionally, as one of the first few employees at IPREO, Mr. Trimarco identified key areas of opportunity for the company to build out its technology foundation that is now the standard platform that most equity and debt issues in the US now run on today.
Using proprietary finance operations and marketing technology platforms, Mr. Trimarco has further leveraged his skills in finance and technology as founder of two of the largest US distributors of telecommunication/TV, which he successfully built out and sold.
Mr. Trimarco is a board member of Clover Fund Solutions and holds a BS in Economics from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Compliance & Risk, Chief Compliance Officer
As Senior Vice President of Compliance & Risk, Chief Compliance Officer, Mr. Carden brings over 17 years of senior management experience including building compliance teams, custom back office operations, customer cash settlement operations, reconciliation teams and customer support teams. Shawn manages all regulatory and compliance execution matters and is the final approver and products and consumer solutions being released.
Previously, Mr. Carden served as Founder and President of TCCI (The Card Collaborative International). Throughout his career, Mr. Carden has held senior leadership roles at MasterCard International, NetSpend, Central Bank of Kansas City, Electronic Funds Source, LLC, MetLife, and Citi Home Mortgage.
Mr. Carden is a FinCEN roundtable participant on various settlement and reconciliation issues.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration
As Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration, Stephen brings extensive financial and operational experience from the technology sector. At Uptempo Stephen oversees all financial and administrative aspects of Uptempo with a primary emphasis on financial reporting, planning, forecasting, and analysis to support Uptempo's growth initiatives.
Prior to joining Uptempo, Stephen has held various CFO roles in the technology sector, where Stephen has been directly involved in raising equity, completing numerous acquisitions and asset divestitures.
Stephen graduated on the Dean's List with Honors from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Business Management. .