Our People

Krishna is a serial entrepreneur and data scientist who has spent over 30 years leveraging AI to benefit consumers and businesses. As Vice President at HNC Software (now FICO) in the 1990s, Krishna invented the Falcon fraud detection system and led a team of 100+ people to create what became the industry standard in credit card fraud detection. He later founded what would become one of the largest consumer installment lenders in the U.K., and served as Managing Director of Lending Stream, a leading fintech company which focuses on serving underbanked U.K. consumers.

In 2014 he founded Applied Data Finance, building an AI-powered personal loan platform that more accurately predicts borrowers’ creditworthiness than traditional models. Krishna is the author of 10 patents, including seminal patents in transaction-based predictive models for fraud detection and risk management. He earned a M.Math. in computer science from the University of Waterloo.

Jimmy joined Applied Data Finance in January 2020 and brings over 25 years of relevant experience in financial services. Prior to joining ADF, Jimmy was Executive Vice President, Credit Card Partnerships at Capital One. He has also served as Auto Partnerships Executive at JP Morgan Chase, Executive Vice President at Bank of Scotland, a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and as a Board Member at Drive Financial Services when sold to Santander Consumer USA. Jimmy holds a B.A. in mathematics from Dartmouth College and a M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

With over 20 years of relevant experience, Jeff joined ADF in February 2022. Jeff started his career in investment banking and went on to launch his own firm, Andrews Partners, which worked with emerging growth companies to raise capital, perform M&A activity, and serve as a corporate advisor. Jeff spent six years running strategic partnerships for the Investor Group at Lending Club and over a year at Pagaya Investments running the Partnerships Team. Jeff graduated from Tufts University in 1994 with a B.A. in political science and English.

With over 30 years of relevant experience, Kevin provides legal advisory services regarding regulatory and compliance matters. Before joining ADF in 2017, he worked at Encore Capital Group as Senior Corporate Counsel and as General Counsel of Atlantic Credit & Finance. Prior to those roles, he worked at Barron & Newburger, P.C. as a senior attorney and represented creditors and debt buyers. He is a current member of the Receivables Management Association International’s Certification Council and Originating Creditor Roundtable. Kevin earned a B.A. in history from Dickinson College and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Simona joined ADF in January 2017. She has over 18 years of relevant experience in the financial industry legal and regulatory compliance practice, and consumer receivables litigation. Prior to joining ADF, Simona was a Director, Compliance Legal Collections & Senior Corporate Counsel at Encore Capital Group, and prior to Encore was in private practice. She received her J.D. from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, and her B.A., cum laude, from California State University, Northridge.

Glen joined ADF in April 2016, bringing over 30 years of experience in accounting and corporate finance at both private and public companies. Prior to joining ADF, Glen was the CAO of Encore Capital Group, a public, $1 billion market cap international specialty finance company. Prior to Encore, he helped lead a San Diego based REIT’s IPO and designed and implemented its Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program. Prior to that, he was the CFO of both a private and a public restaurant company. He began his career with Arthur Andersen in September 1986, where he practiced as a certified public accountant. Glen earned a B.S. in accounting from Pepperdine University.

With over 25 years of experience in corporate strategy and direct and digital marketing, Broud has been with ADF since September 2014. Immediately prior, he worked as a consultant to large, public banks and financial services companies on their digital marketing strategies. He was SVP Digital and Direct Marketing at SunTrust Bank and VP Marketing Strategy at Washington Mutual Card Services. Previously at Capital One Financial in Marketing and Analytics for several years. Broud earned a B.A. in applied mathematics from Brown University and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Craig has been with ADF since the company’s inception in late 2014. He has over 30 years of experience building products and solutions that leverage machine learning at their core, starting with HNC Software’s Falcon system (now owned by FICO). Craig spent 14 years at FICO, building predictive solutions in Financial Services, Healthcare, and Insurance. He was then the Chief Architect at Global Analytics (now GAIN Credit), helping to launch Lending Stream. Most recently, Mr. Nies was the VP of Software Development at Opera Solutions followed by a role as the Chief Analytics Officer at Elevate. He earned a B.S. in computer science from the University of California San Diego.

Melissa has over 25 years of relevant experience in finance, accounting and business intelligence. She was one of the earliest hires at ADF, joining in 2015 shortly after the company was founded. She previously served for eight years as Senior Director of Finance at Websense, where she managed an international FP&A team and led the business intelligence cross-functional team. Prior to Websense, she worked at HNC (later FICO) from 1998 to 2007, progressing from Senior Financial Analyst to Senior Director of Finance. Melissa earned a M.B.A. from UCLA and a B.S. in finance from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shibani joined ADF in July 2015. She has over 19 years of relevant experience in operations, product management and process management leading and developing diverse teams cross functionally across multiple geographies. Prior to joining ADF, Shibani was at Global Analytics (now GAIN Credit) serving as Vice President of Operations and General Manager of Lending Stream, a leading fintech company in the U.K. Shibani earned her B.S. in computer science from Stanford University in 2003.

Lakshmi joined ADF in July 2015. She has over 19 years of experience in analytics, software, operations, project management and finance. Prior to ADF, Lakshmi was at Global Analytics (now Gain Credit) leading multiple business functions and later, served there as Head of overall India operations. Lakshmi has a post-graduate degree in statistics from Madras University.

Gopalan Raman brings over 18 years of relevant, hands-on experience in human resources and operations at Indian start-ups, from talent acquisition to team development. He spent a decade at Global Analytics India (now part of GAIN Credit), eventually overseeing the company’s HR activities and executing innovative recruitment strategies to scale the workforce from 10 to 300 team members. Gopalan has a deep understanding of technology, analytics and operations, especially in the fintech domain, and holds a M.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Hyderabad and a M.A. in mathematics from Temple University.

With over 20 years of relevant experience, Ramesh joined ADF in April 2021. He was formerly a Portfolio Manager at TradeLink Capital where he traded futures and equities using quantitative strategies. Varied R&D experience at Burning Glass Technologies, Lucent Technologies, and Wesleyan University. Ramesh earned a B.E. in computer science from the Indian Institute of Science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania.