Update from Digital Onboarding co-founder, Ted Brown:

Why I hired my mentor to be CEO

The past several months at Digital Onboarding have been extraordinary. Since the New Year started, we have announced a $58M capital raise from Volition Capital, surpassed 150 valued financial institution customers, and added key talent to our remarkable team across a wide array of disciplines. Thinking back to the 2017 Salesforce Dreampitch Competition win that provided the initial capital needed to keep the business going, I’m amazed at how far we’ve come toward our mission of helping financial institutions build deep and lasting relationships.

As we continue to seize the opportunity in front of us, I am thrilled to share that I will be moving into the Executive Chairman role, where I will get to focus on the areas I’m most passionate about, including long term strategy and evangelism of our mission.

Along with this move, we will be welcoming my long-time mentor, Charlie Kroll as the new CEO at Digital Onboarding. Charlie brings nearly 25 years of experience building and scaling successful fintech companies like Andera, Ellevest, and Lithic. Now is the perfect time to add someone with proven experience taking fintechs to the next stage of growth to our exceptionally talented leadership team, and Charlie is the perfect person to do it.

On a personal note, Charlie and I met nearly 20 years ago when I was a student at Brown and I had the opportunity to work with him at Andera, the first digital account opening platform for banks and credit unions, which he founded and led as CEO. I started as the company’s first intern in my junior year at college, and when it came time to graduate Charlie pulled me aside, offered me a sales role, and convinced me to stay in Providence, RI to help the business grow. I spent nearly 10 years with Andera, where we grew to serve over 700 financial institution customers across the country before being acquired by a public company in 2014. It was during that time that I got the inspiration for Digital Onboarding, and I left shortly after the acquisition to focus on it full time.

Charlie Kroll

The amazing talent we’ve been able to recruit to Digital Onboarding since then is the reason for our success to date, so when Charlie became available I immediately got to work convincing him to join our cause. Having worked with Charlie for the better part of a decade, I know his skills as an exceptional operator will be instrumental as we focus on perfecting every aspect of our business from product development to sales and delivery.

To our valued customers, employees, investors, and stakeholders, this is an exciting time for Digital Onboarding. While I now transition away from day-to-day involvement as CEO, I remain heavily invested in the business and our future, and I look forward to the next phase of the business and working closely with Charlie and all of you for many years to come. 

Ted Brown