Eric L. Kelly

Eric Kelly is a senior executive with a more than 40-year career growing and transforming global technology companies ranging from pre-public startups to Fortune 100 organizations. He is currently the Chairman and Founder of Bridge 2 Technologies, an AI-enabled software company. He also sits on the Board of Sabre Corporation, where he serves on the Technology Committee and the Audit Committee, and on the Board of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (a Fortune 500 company), where he serves on the Audit and Risk Committee. He has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of two NASDAQ-listed technology companies leading global operations. Mr. Kelly was formerly Chairman of the Economic Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and held senior federal advisory roles under the office of the President of the United States and the Commerce Department.

Bridge 2 Technologies is an Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) software platform that connects corporations with their ecosystem of emerging businesses, suppliers, investors, advisors and partners. Its AI engine tracks stakeholder engagement, manages relationship lifecycles, and measures partnership value at global scale. B2T offers two SaaS products: Marketplace Cloud, a shared multi-stakeholder marketplace, and Enterprise Cloud, a private-labeled platform for enterprises seeking to deploy ERM under their own brand.

“Tech in finance in general, and in consumer finance in particular, is changing in ways we never imagined and faster than we ever predicted. It’s not enough to ‘invest in technology.’ Companies must have a short-term and long-term strategic plan with technology at its core.”

Why we nominated him

1. A tech-first, AI-native operating model

Consumer finance is being restructured by AI and Fintech platforms. The market potential is enormous and has attracted new entrants where technology drives or augments every decision and process. Medallion is not prepared for that transition. It will take a clear vision, a material investment and multi-year execution. Medallion’s Board has no director or senior executive with operating experience in the technology disciplines required to lead the necessary transformation. There is no Board-level Technology Committee charged with overseeing it. Eric Kelly is the operator we believe Medallion needs. He sits today on the Board-level Technology Committee at Sabre Corporation, the publicly traded technology company. Sabre’s Board recruited Mr. Kelly specifically for the strength his technology background brings to that committee.

2. Sitting public-company audit and risk experience at a Fortune 500 financial-services company

Mr. Kelly currently serves on the Audit and Risk Committee of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, a Fortune 500 mutual insurer. The Audit Committee has the important responsibility of overseeing financial accounting and reporting processes. A lapse in Medallion’s Audit Committee oversight is what led to the SEC enforcement action and Medallion’s 4Q 2019 reclassification of 61 medallion loans from performing loans to impaired troubled debt restructurings. Audit Committee members at any organization must be willing to ask tough questions, mindful of how a lapse can have serious ramifications for stockholders.

3. He has the regulatory credibility Medallion needs to thrive

We believe that all lenders, particularly lenders with a very narrow focus, must broaden their revenue and fee sources. Medallion is an indirect lender, tied to consumer discretionary spending. As a result, it faces outsized risks in an uncertain economy compared to more diversified lenders, like commercial banks. It is imperative that Medallion expands into adjacent lending verticals, both consumer and commercial, that present a good risk-adjusted opportunity and where risks are fully understood. Moves like this will require regulatory buy-in and trust. Trust that we believe has been severely damaged by the SEC enforcement action and related judgment, and the recent SBA default. Through his role as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Economic Advisory Board and his experience on the board of Guardian Life, a company in a heavily regulated industry, Mr. Kelly has a keen understanding of the importance of strong regulatory relationships.

Career highlights

Education

• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, Grambling State University
• M.B.A., San Francisco State University
• B.S., Business Management, San Jose State University

Independence

Mr. Kelly is independent of Medallion Financial Corp, BIMIZCI Fund LLC and its affiliates, and the Murstein family. He does not own any securities of the Company and has not entered into any transactions in the securities of the Company during the past two years.