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Our Investors
Compass Venture Partners
Compass Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on investments in emerging companies with innovative products or services addressing high-growth markets. Most of Compass’s portfolio companies also have strong intellectual property positions.
DFJ Frontier
DFJ Frontier invests in seed and early stage technology companies on the West Coast. The firm backs passionate entrepreneurs and provides business assistance, not just capital. DFJ Frontier is part of the DFJ Network, the most active venture capital organization on the planet. With offices in over 30 cities around the globe, the DFJ network has over $5 billion under management to fund extraordinary entrepreneurs.
www.dfjfrontier.com
Eli Reinhard
Eli Reinhard, President and sole owner of Arcadia Development Co., is a well-known builder and philanthropist in the San Jose Bay Area. Eli founded Arcadia in 1957 from a nominal investment into one of the larger, privately owned land developers and home builders in the Greater San Jose Area, having built approximately 10,000 homes and apartments over the past 50 years.
UCLA Foundation
Through The UCLA Foundation, generous donors participate with building, sustaining and advancing the university. The foundation oversees donated resources and investment assets, which are managed by the nonprofit UCLA Investment Company.
Our Advisors
Edward Haluska
Chief Revenue Officer, American First Finance
Mr. Haluska began his career in financial services at PNC Financial Services Group, where he honed his banking skills in Treasury Management, Real Estate, and Emerging Technology. Ed departed PNC to found Advance Services, a Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) in Philadelphia that provided a variety of products and support services to the Mid-Atlantic region’s consumer finance industry.
When Advance Services was acquired by Republic Bancorp, Mr. Haluska became the EVP of National Consumer Lending for the bank holding company. He also directed the bank’s highly accretive Delaware banking subsidiary. Over time, one of the Bank's client's, CIC Financial Services, enticed Mr. Haluska to become their COO, and he was responsible for store-based installment lending, e-commerce and business development.
Ed left CIC to co-found an Atlanta-based payments start-up, REPAY – Realtime Electronic Payments, a full-service provider of electronic transaction processing services to both traditional and online merchants. As COO of the firm, Mr. Haluska managed all operations and led corporate sales efforts. REPAY has been consistently ranked on the “Inc. 5000” list of America’s fastest growing private companies.
Mr. Haluska was later recruited to Savannah, GA to become the SVP of Product Development for TMX Finance, where he was responsible for creating a new online lending subsidiary, developing advanced consumer payment strategies, implementing new and alternative lending products, and architecting a set of ancillary products to compliment the firm’s core credit offering: title loans.
Ed added to his career success by joining Strategic Link Consulting as their COO. Strategic Link provides its financial services clients with Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) solutions that leverage the firm’s competencies in contact center services, outsourced back-office, loan management systems and technology support services.
Since 2017, Mr. Haluska has been the Chief Revenue Officer for American First Finance, a Dallas-based FinTech company which provides point-of-sale and eCommerce consumer finance solutions to retailers nationally.
Mr. Haluska is a Certified Cash Manager (CCM). He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from Duquesne University and also received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from Drexel University.
Dan Holt
CEO, BillGO
Mr. Holt began his career in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as an officer for 8 years. He then moved to Silicon Valley, where he worked in IT for Softnet Systems, Greenlight, and Ingenuity Web Apps. In 2003, he became CEO of HEIT, a secure high-availability cloud services provider based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Mr. Holt became President & GM of Managed Services for Computers Services, Inc. (CSI), when that company acquired HEIT in 2011. At CSI, he was responsible for the company’s vision and strategy for serving community financial institutions. He also oversaw business development, strategic partnerships, and delivery of services to clients. Under his leadership, the Managed Services division of CSI became the largest secure banking cloud and managed service provider for community banks and credit unions, with revenues over $40 million. Profits for the division tripled under Mr. Holt’s management.
In 2014, Mr. Holt left CSI, and in 2015 he founded BillGO, a B2B bill payment engine that improves speed, efficiency and security.
In addition to these executive roles, Mr. Holt has served as a board director for Allied Payment Network, Inc. and as a mentor for the Entrepreneurship & Venture Accelerator Program for Colorado State University.
Mr. Holt is a CISSP-certified security professional and is a member of ISACA and the Association for Financial Technology. He earned a Bachelor Degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland College Park. He received a Master of Business Administration Degree from Colorado State University.
Dan Pavlick
Executive Vice President, CIO Corporate and Institutional Banking, PNC
As CIO for PNC's Corporate and Institutional Banking (C&IB) Business, Mr. Pavlick is responsible for C&IB Technology strategy and architecture, application development, IT program delivery and business technology enablement for the various C&IB business segments at PNC, one of the largest diversified financial institutions in the U.S. Mr. Pavlick is responsible for delivering IT solutions for PNC’s Treasury Management and Payment Processing, Corporate On-line Banking, Federal Services, Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management, Credit Origination and Servicing, Equipment Finance, Real Estate Technology and Business Analytics.
Mr. Pavlick is a member of PNC’s Technology and Operations Executive Committee and is the program owner for the Banks’ Enterprise Architecture Strategic Program while serving as chair for the Enterprise Technology Architecture and Governance Committee.
His previous roles at PNC included SVP, IT Strategy and Architecture, as well as SVP, Electronic Commerce and SVP, Product Management Treasury Management.
From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Pavlick served as VP, IT Services for Respironics, a medical supply company that was acquired by Philips in 2008. After the acquisition, he continued as VP, IT Services until 2010 when joined Summa Technologies as SVP, Strategy and Corporate Development.
Mr. Pavlick earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems and Business Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance and Marketing from Duquesne University.
Jodi Graber Pratt
We remember Jodi Pratt in her passing. A true pioneer in fraud management within U.S. financial services, she was a well-known, respected professional within the fraud prevention community. Jodi played a foundational role in shaping how financial institutions approached fraud, risk management, and consumer protection, bringing deep expertise, integrity, and thoughtful leadership to an emerging discipline. Her work influenced countless organizations and professionals, and her mentorship helped shape many successful careers.
“I consider Jodi one of my mentors, she became a close friend,” shared Jeff Sargent, SVP Relationship Management at Accelitas. “We started working together at Carreker, now Fiserv, where she ultimately became Managing Principal of the Risk Management Practice. I owe a lot of the success in my career to Jodi, it was Jodi who referred me to Accelitas.”
Jodi was a trusted and valued advisor at Accelitas. Her perspective, experience, and steady counsel helped inform strategy and strengthen our commitment to responsible, data-driven decision-making. She was known not only for her professional rigor but also for her generosity with time, mentorship, and encouragement.
A survivor of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, Jodi embodied resilience, optimism, and grace. “She was such an optimistic person,” Greg Cote, CEO at Accelitas, reflected. “Her smile just made you feel like everything would be okay.” He also noted the depth and breadth of her faith, which grounded her calm presence and quiet joy. “I believe her faith gave her a deep sense that we aren’t alone on this journey.”
Beyond her professional legacy, Jodi was beloved for the traditions that reflected who she was at her core. She famously sent Thanksgiving cards in place of holiday cards, an intentional choice centered on gratitude and reflection. She was also legendary for baking extraordinary quantities of truly “next level” holiday cookies each year, generously sharing them with friends, colleagues, and family.
“One of my favorite memories,” Jeff shared, “was the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. We each had our picture taken with Charlie Brown that day.” Small moments like these captured Jodi’s warmth, humor, and ability to make lasting connections.
Jodi will be remembered for her kindness, warmth, unwavering faith, generous spirit, and unmistakable smile, as well as for the lasting legacy she leaves behind in the industry and in the many lives she touched.
Rest in peace Jodi.
Kelli Schultz
President at Allied Payment Network
Ms. Schultz is a board director and President at Allied Payment Network, A payment platform company for financial services, business and technology providers.
Ms. Schultz is also co-founder and director of strategic sales for Venminder by Digital Compliance, a cloud-based vendor management solution used by financial institutions. Previously she was president and CEO of Digital Compliance, a start-up that was spun out of iPay when that company was acquired by Jack Henry and Associates in 2011.
At iPay, an independent electronic bill pay provider for more than 3,600 banks and credit unions, Ms. Schultz’s roles included VP of IT, VP of Innovation, SVP Premier Accounts, and President. Before iPay, Ms. Schultz was an IT Manager for Netzee.
Ms. Schultz has also held several leadership positions in the Association for Financial Technology. She served as Vice President and Program Chair from 2009 to 2012 and President from 2012 to 2013.
Ms. Schultz studied learning and development, human resources, and business at the University of Louisville and voice at Western Kentucky University.