Fintech startup Meritize announced that financial industry veteran Jeff Jackson has been appointed as its new chief financial officer.
The Frisco-based company offers merit-based financing solutions and a technology platform that connects career starters and mid-career professionals with high-impact skills training.
“Jeff’s background spanning the world of corporate, consumer, and education finance makes him uniquely qualified within our industry to help guide Meritize’s financial strategy during this important chapter of the company’s growth and evolution,” founder and CEO Chris Keaveney said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to our team and look forward to working with him to help more skill-seekers achieve their career goals.”
Experienced in education credit, lending, risk analysis, and more
Jackson brings nearly 30 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience to Meritize, which is working to scale its operations and accelerate momentum to meet the education and training needs of fast-growing industries such as information technology and health care.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in education credit, lending, and risk analysis with previous roles running Goldman Sachs’ student loan group and UBS Investment Banking’s asset-backed group.
Most recently, Jackson was chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Future Finance, a United Kingdom-based education finance company that provides financing for education-based expenses to university students.
There, Jackson helped guide the company through the COVID-19 pandemic and stressed credit markets.
Jackson is an expert in capital markets, credit and risk evaluation, consumer financial products and corporate finance, Meritize said. He has raised more than $50 billion of capital for companies across the securitization, debt, and equity markets.
Jackson formerly was the head of capital markets for various companies and has been involved in numerous advisory assignments, equity principal investments, capital restructuring, and asset acquisitions.
“I’ve been closely following Meritize’s growth in recent years and have been consistently impressed by the team they’ve built as well as the maturity and impact of the model itself,” Jackson said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to joining during an exciting time in the company’s growth and expansion.”
More funding opportunities for underserved students
Meritize’s forward-looking model is different than other approaches to credit and finance for education. It’s based on an individual’s potential to succeed, rather than credit scores or other narrow measures of economic worth.
The company’s platform uses an individual’s academic or military achievements to enhance credit evaluation and potentially improve financing options, Meritize said. Using borrower data to forecast the likelihood of completion and loan repayment, Meritize said it can greatly expand funding opportunities for students who are underserved by traditional loans.
Since its launch in 2017, Meritize has helped nearly 20,000 students get access to training, connecting them to more than $400 million in financing.
Meritize has since grown its workforce to more than 60 employees, and more than 900 high-quality training providers across the United States are using Meritize’s approach to merit-based finance to help professionals access and pay for training for roles in high-growth industries such as aviation, healthcare, information technology, and the skilled trades.
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