Executive Officers

Gary A. Simanson, 60
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Simanson is founder of Thunder Bridge Capital, LLC and has served as its Chief Executive Officer since 2017. In addition to serving in that capacity, Mr. Simanson serves as head of its Investment Committee, Credit Committee, Enterprise Risk Committee, Loan Review and other executive committees and is responsible for sourcing and establishing strategic loan asset purchase relationships and equity opportunities within the financial services and FinTech industries. Since 2020 he has been an executive officer and director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 he has been an executive officer and director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2018 to 2019 he was an officer and director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider. From 2015 through June 2017, Mr. Simanson founded and managed Endeavor Capital Management, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Advisors, L.L.C., Endeavor Capital Fund, LP, and Endeavor Equity Fund, LP (collectively, “Endeavor”), targeting debt and equity investments in the marketplace lending industry. Prior to founding Endeavor, Mr. Simanson served as an advisor and then as a Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Avenue National Bank from 2013 to 2015, restructuring its balance sheet, lending practices, underwriting procedures, special credits, ALCO, corporate governance, enterprise risk, IT, retail delivery, and achieving strong regulatory results. He has been Managing Director of First Capital Group, L.L.C., an investment banking advisory firm specializing in the financial industry and bank mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, capital raising and enterprise risk management from 1997 to the present. In such capacity, Mr. Simanson has both initiated and advised on bank mergers and acquisitions, capital raising transactions, enterprise risks and strategic initiatives around the country and has spoken nationally and internationally on enterprise risk, bank mergers and acquisitions, and also on the emerging marketplace lending and global FinTech industry, including the uses of blockchain for international asset selection and verification and income stream allocation and treasury management. Mr. Simanson previously served as the financial expert for the Audit Committee and as a member of the board of directors of First Guaranty Bancshares, Inc., with $1.4 billion in assets, and its wholly-owned subsidiary First Guaranty Bank; and as a Senior Advisor to the Chairman of Alpine Capital Bank and its related companies, operating in the commercial banking, investment advisory, merchant banking and portfolio investment areas. He was Founder, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategic Officer of Community Bankers Trust Corporation, a $1.2 billion in assets bank holding company for Essex Bank (NASDAQ NMS “ESXB”) and previously served as its President, Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer, and as a Director since its inception in 2005 to 2011, overseeing its public offering in 2006 as a special purpose acquisition company, Community Bankers Acquisition Corp, its bank acquisitions and shareholder reformulation in 2008, and its failed bank acquisitions from the FDIC in 2008 and 2009. In addition to serving as managing director of First Capital Group, Mr. Simanson also served as Senior Vice President concentrating in bank mergers and acquisitions and capital markets with FTN Financial Capital Markets, a wholly owned investment banking and financial services subsidiary of First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE: FHS) from 1998 to 1999. From 1992 to 1995, Mr. Simanson was Associate General Counsel at Union Planters Corporation, then a NYSE-traded bank holding company (presently Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF)), where his duties included the negotiation and preparation of all bank merger and acquisition transaction documents, transaction due diligence, member of integration committee, preparation of all regulatory filings, registration statements and other securities filings and other bank regulatory matters. From 1989 to 1992, he was a practicing attorney, beginning his career with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, specializing in the securities, bank regulatory and bank merger and acquisition areas. Mr. Simanson is licensed to practice law in the states of New York and Colorado. Mr. Simanson received his B.A. degree, majoring in Economics, from George Washington University. He earned his M.B.A., majoring in Finance, from George Washington University and holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University.

William A. Houlihan, 65
Chief Financial Officer

Since 2019 he has been an executive officer of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). Since 2020 he has been an executive officer of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. From 2018 to 2019 he was an officer of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider. He has served since 2012 as a director and audit committee chairman for MAXEX, LLC, a privately-owned residential mortgage loan trading business. He has served since 2009 as a director and financial expert on the audit committee of First Physicians Capital Group, or FPCG, a privately-owned health care investment company, which was registered with the SEC prior to completion of a going-private transaction in 2015, from 2013 to 2014 as non-executive chairman of its board of directors and since 2013 as the chairman of its audit committee. Since 2013 he has served as a director and Audit Committee Chairman of Lument Finance Trust (NYSE: LFT), a mortgage REIT. He served from 2013 to 2015 as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee of Tiptree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TIPT), or Tiptree, a financial services holding company; and from 2010 to 2013 as lead independent director and chairman of the audit committee for Care Investment Trust (OTCQX: CVTR), a healthcare REIT which merged with Tiptree in 2013. From 2003 to 2010, he was a director of SNL Financial, a privately owned financial information company, and in addition, from 1998 to 2012 he was a director and shareholder of a family-owned commercial real estate investment partnership. He served from 2013 to 2014 as the chief financial officer for Amalgamated Bank, a privately owned bank. From 2001 through 2008, Mr. Houlihan was a private investor while he served as transitional Chief Financial Officer for several distressed financial services companies: Sixth Gear, Inc. from 2007 to 2008; Sedgwick Claims Management Services from 2006 until 2007; Metris Companies from 2004 to 2006; and Hudson United Bancorp from 2001 to 2003. From 1981 until 2000, and for short-term periods in 2004 and 2007, Mr. Houlihan worked for a number of investment banking companies, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Bear Stearns, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM) and UBS (NYSE:UBS). He also held several auditing and accounting positions from 1977 through 1981. In addition he was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant, but his license is currently inactive. Since 2017 has been an adjunct professor for the Feliciano School of Business at Montclair State University. On March 13, 2015, Mr. Houlihan settled an administrative proceeding brought by the SEC regarding his alleged failure to file on a timely basis required Schedule 13D amendments and Section 16(a) reports relating to his beneficial ownership of securities of FPCG. Mr. Houlihan is a member of the board of directors of FPCG and a greater than 10% beneficial owner of FPCG securities. In the settlement, Mr. Houlihan did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations, consented to the entry of a cease and desist order requiring him not to cause any violation of Sections 13(d)(2) and 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and agreed to pay a civil penalty of $15,000 to the SEC. Mr. Houlihan received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Accounting from Manhattan College and received his M.B.A. in Finance from New York University Graduate School of Business.

Board of Directors

David E. Mangum, 55
Director Nominee

Since 2019, Mr. Mangum has been a Senior Advisor at General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm. Since 2020 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2014 until September 2018, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of Global Payments, Inc., (NYSE:GPN), a global payment technology and software company. During this time he helped lead the transformation of the company from a payment processor to a technology services and software company; prior to this he served in increasingly senior roles at Global Payments, including as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2011 to 2014 and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2011. Before this, from 2007 to 2008, he served as Executive Vice President, Fiserv Corp. (NASDAQ:FISV), a financial services technology provider which acquired CheckFree Corporation, provider of financial electronic commerce solutions in 2007. During this time, Mr. Mangum co-led the strategic integration process of CheckFree Corporation into Fiserv Corp. Prior to this acquisition, Mr. Mangum had been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer or CheckFree Corporation (NASDAQ:CKFR) from 2000 to 2007 and its Senior Vice President, Finance and Accounting, from 1999 to 2000. There, he helped direct finance and administrative activities including M&A, investor relations, internal audit and enterprise risk management. Mr. Mangum received his B.A. from Carleton College.

Mary Anne Gillespie, 68
Director Nominee

Ms. Gillespie has been the Executive Vice President of Sales/Product Marketing at EIS Group, a provider of digital-ready, customer-centered core insurance systems, since 2015. Since 2020 she has been a director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 she has been a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2018 to 2019 she was an officer, and then a director, of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider. She has 36 years of multichannel customer engagement experience. She has executed sales strategies and market growth in national and global territories for companies ranging from start-up to $9 billion in revenue across a broad range of industries. Ms. Gillespie previously served as Executive Vice President at TAS Group, a provider of software solutions for electronic money, payment systems, capital markets and ERP, from 2011 to 2012 and Vice President of Merchant Sales at PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) from 2007 to 2009. Prior to those positions, she was Vice President of Sales at Guidewire Software, a software publisher, from 2005 to 2007. Earlier, she worked in several roles at Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) leading to Senior Vice President of Sales. Ms. Gillespie received an M.B.A. degree from the University of New Hampshire and a B.A. degree from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Robert Hartheimer, 63
Director Nominee

Since 2020 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2018 to 2019 he was a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider; upon such consummation, Mr. Hartheimer remained with the combined company, Repay Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:RPAY), as a Director and Chairman of Repay’s Audit Committee. Mr. Hartheimer has been an Independent Director of CardWorks, a privately held consumer lender and credit card servicer since 2017. In 2020 Mr. Hartheimer became an Organizer and Director Nominee of Monzo US in its application for a US National Bank Charter. Monzo US is an affiliate of Monzo UK, a challenger bank with over 4 million banking customers. In addition to these board roles Mr. Hartheimer provides senior-level consulting services to banks, investment firms and financial services companies on financial, regulatory, strategic and governance matters, since 2008. Mr. Hartheimer was Co-Founder and Chief Regulatory Officer of CreditStacks aka Jasper, a fintech credit card originator from 2015-2020. From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Hartheimer was a Managing Director at Promontory Financial Group, a regulatory consulting firm. In 1991, Mr. Hartheimer joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where he and a small team created the Division of Resolutions to analyze and sell failed banks. He went on to serve as the Director of that division. Mr. Hartheimer’s other past positions include senior roles at investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Friedman Billings Ramsey. Mr. Hartheimer previously served on five Boards of directors: Lending Club Asset Management, an investment management subsidiary of Lending Club (NYSE: LC) from 2016 to 2019; Higher One Holdings (NYSE: ONE) a payments company from 2012 to 2016 where he served as Chairman of the Risk Committee; Sterling Financial Corporation and Sterling Bank (NASDAQ: STSA) a recapitalized regional bank in the State of Washington from 2010 to 2014; the three E*Trade Banks, where he served as Chairman of the Audit Committee for such bank subsidiaries for part of this tenure (NASDAQ: ETFC) from 2005 to 2008; and Merrick Bank, a Utah based credit card bank, from 1997 to 2003, where he served as Chairman of its Audit Committee. Mr. Hartheimer received his B.A. from Hamilton College and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Stewart J. Paperin, 72
Director Nominee

Since 2020 Mr. Paperin has been a director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2018 to 2019 he was a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider. Mr. Paperin currently serves as the managing member of Leopard Rock Property Group, a real property development and investment firm located in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. Mr. Paperin served as Executive Vice President of the Soros Foundation, a worldwide private philanthropic foundation, from 1996 to 2013, where he oversaw financial, administrative and economic development activities. From 1996 to 2005, Mr. Paperin served as a Senior Advisor and portfolio manager for Soros Fund Management LLC, a financial services company, and from 2005 to 2014, he served as a consultant to Soros Fund Management LLC. From 1996 to 2007, Mr. Paperin served as a Director of Penn Octane Corporation (NASDAQ: POCC), a company engaged in the purchase, transportation and sale of liquefied petroleum gas. Prior to joining the Soros organizations, Mr. Paperin served as President of Brooke Group International, an investment firm concentrated on the former Soviet Union, from 1990 to 1993, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Western Union Corporation, a provider of money transfer and message services, which was controlled by Brooke Group, from 1988 to 1990. Prior to Western Union Corporation, Mr. Paperin served as Chief Financial Officer of Timeplex Corporation, a telecommunications equipment provider, from 1986 to 1988 and of Datapoint Corporation, a computer equipment manufacturer, from 1985 to 1986. Prior to Datapoint Corporation, Mr. Paperin served as a financial officer of Pepsico Corporation (NYSE: PEP) from 1980 to 1985 and as a management consultant at Cresap McCormick & Paget from 1975 to 1980. Mr. Paperin has been a director of ARMOUR REIT since 2009. Mr. Paperin served as a member of Enterprise’s board of directors, ARMOUR’s predecessor from its inception in 2007 to its merger with ARMOUR in 2009. Mr. Paperin was also a director of JAVELIN from 2012 until the merger in 2016. Mr. Paperin also served as a member of the board of directors of Community Bankers Acquisition Corp., a blank check company formed to acquire an operating business in the banking industry (NYSE MKT LLC: BTC). In May 2016, Mr. Paperin was named as a defendant in his capacity as a former director of JAVELIN, together with all other directors, in a consolidated class action filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, alleging, among other claims, breaches of fiduciary duty, aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duty and waste in connection with JAVELIN’s merger with ARMOUR and related transactions (the “JAVELIN Transactions”). The plaintiffs in the case were seeking equitable relief, including, among other relief, to enjoin consummation of the JAVELIN Transactions, or rescind or unwind the JAVELIN Transactions if already consummated, and award costs and disbursements, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses. On June 27, 2016, the defendants in the case filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failing to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. A hearing was held on the motion on March 3, 2017. In the two year period since the hearing date, the court has not issued an order on the motion to dismiss. Mr. Paperin holds an M.S. in Management, and a B.A. in Economics Management from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the State University of New York.

Allerd D. Stikker, 58
Director Nominee

Since 2020 Mr. Stikker has been a director of Thunder Bridge Capital Partners III Inc. Since 2019 he has been a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition II, Ltd. (NASDAQ: THBR). From 2018 to 2019 he was a director of Thunder Bridge Acquisition, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a blank check company which in July 2019 consummated its initial business combination with Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC, or Repay, an omnichannel payments technology provider. Mr. Stikker started his career as a banking consultant in the United States. After moving back to Europe, he became active within the oil and gas sector and was subsequently employed in the financial services sector as Chief Financial Officer for IMC B.V. After a sabbatical period, he joined the BXR Group, an international private investment group, in 2008 as Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for its real estate division and served as Chief Operating Officer of BXR Group from 2011 until 2014. He was Chief Executive Officer of BXR Group from 2014 until 2018. Currently Mr. Stikker serves as advisor to BXR Group. During his tenure at BXR, Mr. Stikker served on numerous boards and in many occasions as chairman, such as Green Gas International, a methane processor, Advanced World Transport, a railway transporter in Eastern Europe, Tower Group A/S, a real estate investor in the German residential market and BXR Group BV, the entity within BXR that makes all major decisions. Mr. Stikker has an M.B.A. and a B.A. in Business Administration from George Washington University.