George Gresham

Director, CEO and President

George has served as CFO and COO and on the company’s board of directors since October 2021. He is a veteran finance and payments executive, having previously served on the boards of both Green Dot Corporation and Green Dot Bank from 2016 to 2019, and as CFO at NetSpend Holdings from 2010 to 2013.

Prior to these executive roles, George served as CFO and EVP at Global Cash Access (GCA Holdings, Inc.), a multinational, publicly traded payments company specializing in merchant payment processing solutions in the gaming industry, from 2008 to 2010. Before Netspend, he served as CFO and chief administrative officer at EFD (eFunds Corporation, which ultimately sold to FIS) from 2002 through 2007. He also served on the board of EML Payments, a multi-national provider of GPR, gift, payroll and other payment solutions, from April 2020 to August 2021.

George is the founder and CEO of Granite Reef Advisors, a professional advisory firm focused on providing third-party assistance in acquisition target evaluation and execution, which he has operated since 2013. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Dama Technologies, Inc., a financial technology firm which provides transparent, sustainable banking and payment solutions for under-banked businesses.

George holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Northern Arizona University and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Chris Ruppel

Chief Revenue Officer

As Chief Revenue Officer, Chris is responsible for overseeing all revenue generating businesses, marketing and product with strategic oversight focused on achieving consistent revenue and margin growth across the enterprise.

Chris previously served as GM of the company’s direct-to-consumer business and focused on accelerating the growth of the company’s flagship digital bank GO2bank, launched in early 2021. Prior to that, Chris served as GM of wage and corporate disbursements (branded as rapid!) for the company since 2017. In this role, he led the company’s PayCard business and oversaw the development and launch of the company’s earned wage access solution.

Before the business was acquired by Green Dot, Chris served as president of rapid! PayCard and GM of card portfolios for UniRush, LLC., where he was responsible for the management of card products for the multi-line prepaid company. He was previously GM of prepaid cards for the Americas at WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX). As part of WEX’s global expansion in the Americas, the company’s prepaid card business expanded into Brazil with the acquisition of FastCred and a controlling interest in UNIK. Before joining WEX, Chris was CEO and co-founder of rapid! Financial Services (rapid! PayCard) from 2004 until it was acquired by WEX in April of 2011. From 1996 until 2008, he served as vice president of Sembler Investments and held leadership positions in numerous portfolio companies. He also previously served as a board member of Freedom Bank, a Florida chartered bank.

Chris holds a B.A. in Finance and a B.A. in English from Florida State University and spends most of his time in Tampa, FL.

Jess Unruh

Chief Financial Officer

Jess Unruh has been with the company since 2009 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in November of 2022. In his previous role as operational CFO and chief accounting officer, Jess led financial operations for the company, including corporate accounting, tax, financial reporting, corporate finance and financial planning and analytics.

Before joining the company, Jess served in the audit practice at Ernst & Young LLP. He holds B.S. degrees in Accounting and Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Teresa Watkins

Chief Operations Officer

As Chief Operations Officer, Teresa is responsible for overseeing Payment Processing, Payment Networks, Supply Chain, Settlement, and Sourcing/Procurement, as well as Customer Experience and Support (CES). She previously served as Green Dot’s SVP of Operations and has played an instrumental role in transforming the company’s banking and payment platforms, delivering seamless migrations to Green Dot’s modern platform for the company’s 50 million-plus users.

Teresa previously led JPMorgan Chase’s Prepaid Card Financial Operations and Implementations team of over 100 employees located in multiple sites globally, which supported more than 13.2 million stored value debit cards held by cardholders and clients across private and public sector businesses. Teresa also managed, coordinated and monitored progress of all day-to-day activities supported by implementations, settlement, financial adjustment, dispute/claims and reconciliation teams, overseeing all financial operations within the Prepaid Card Operations organization.

Teresa earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Masters in Accountancy with focus on Accounting Information Systems from the University of South Florida. Teresa is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida since 2005. She served as Treasurer for a local non-profit during 2019-2021. Teresa now resides in Tampa, FL, with her husband of 23 years, two beautiful children, and family cat and dog.

Alex Bartels

GM, Wage and Corporate Disbursements

As GM of wage and corporate disbursements (branded as rapid!) since early 2022, Alex leads the teams providing paycard, earned wage access, and disbursements services to employers throughout the United States.

Alex has held a variety of roles in the company’s paycard division since joining in 2009. Prior to his current role, Alex served as vice president of customer success (from 2018 to 2022) and previously served as director of client enrollment and relationship management.

Alex lives in Tampa, FL with his wife and two children. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Tampa.

Alison Lubert

Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications

As head of corporate communications, Alison leads the team responsible for building and protecting the company’s corporate, brand and product reputations among internal and external stakeholders through a variety of channels, including employee communications and events, and external earned media and thought leadership.

With more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications and public relations, Alison has served a wide array of companies and clients spanning consumer and B2B financial services, technology, telecommunications, and more. Before taking on her current role in August 2020, Alison ran her own consulting business supporting clients ranging from global telecom provider T-Mobile to ShareBuilder 401k, a digital 401(k) provider for small- to mid-sized companies. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Capital One, where she led public relations for a variety of business units and initiatives including retail investing, West Coast expansion and recruiting, small business bank and credit card, and ultimately all B2B products and services. From 2007 to 2011, Alison worked on the corporate communications team at E*TRADE, leading proactive product PR and communications.

Alison is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations and a minor in Business Administration. She lives in New York with her husband and two sons.

Amanda Goettelman

Senior Vice President, Head of Transformation

As head of transformation, Mandy leads the program management office, fraud, disputes and BSA/AML operations, with a focus on driving operational alignment and efficiencies to bolster the company’s technology transformation and other long-term strategic objectives.

Mandy brings more than two decades of experience in banking and financial services to the company. Prior to joining Green Dot in 2022, Mandy served as SVP of Client Integration and Support Services at U.S. Bank where she led a 100-plus person team focused on implementing new product and business technology initiatives, and other critical programs that optimized resources, metrics and overall productivity for the company. Before U.S. Bank, Mandy worked at JP Morgan Chase for nearly 14 years (from 2003 to 2017) in a variety of leadership roles spanning banking and financial operations, and project and program management.

Mandy holds a Bachelor’s in Finance from St. Louis University. Located in St. Louis, she is married with two sons and spends her free time in the outdoors with her family, traveling and reading.

Amy Pugh

General Counsel

As general counsel, Amy has overseen the company’s legal affairs since September 2022, playing a critical role in the company’s strategic initiatives while mitigating risk and ensuring compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations across the board. She also provides critical insight and guidance on regulatory considerations and requirements, cyber security, information security, litigation, risk management, and other areas.

Amy joined the company from Cross River Bank, where she served as associate general counsel since 2019 and provided legal expertise to a variety of business areas including credit cards, payments, banking services, banking-as-a-service (BaaS), payments-as-a-service (PaaS), marketplace lending, marijuana-related business opportunities, and digital assets (crypto). During her tenure, the company experienced rapid expansion, grew various business lines, and tripled its revenue and valuation. Prior to Cross River Bank, Amy held various legal counsel roles at Ubiquity Global Services, UniRush, and Fifth Third Bank.

Amy holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University and a B.A. in History from the University of Kentucky.

Brian Schmidt

CEO, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Brian has served as CEO of the company’s tax division, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (or “TPG”) since April 2016. In this role, he oversees the U.S. market leader in tax financial products, processing one out of every nine tax returns filed nationally via more than 27,000 independent tax professionals and various online tax providers.

Brian has been in the tax business for over 27 years – in a variety of roles at TPG and previously with H&R Block. He also spent several years working in alternative lending, with a focus on product development and regulatory issues. In these roles, Brian was responsible for various departments including legal, HR, government relations, risk and compliance.

Brian holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in finance and a Juris Doctorate degree, both from the University of Missouri. He lives in the San Diego area with his wife and has two adult children who also live in San Diego. He is an avid runner, usually completing a few marathons each year, including a number of Boston Marathons.

Crystal Bryant-Minter

SVP of Money Movement

Crystal Bryant-Minter is SVP of Money Movement at Green Dot Corporation, responsible for the strategic vision and growth of money movement and Green Dot Network, which unite cash and digital transactions across a vast retail network of 90K+ locations nationwide. Before taking on her current role in early 2023, Crystal spent five years spearheading Green Dot’s Financial Services Center(FSC) Division. Her leadership drove the development and expansion of financial services and products through collaboration with consumer financial services, emphasizing accessibility and inclusivity for the low to moderate income (“LMI”) community. With a career spanning over 20 years in technology and financial services, Crystal maintains a steadfast commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and is an active member of CHIEF, Women in Payments and Women in Technology.

Dave Harden

Chief Technology Officer

As Chief Technology Officer, Dave is responsible for overseeing the ongoing development and delivery of Green Dot’s technology platforms supporting the company’s direct customers and growing list of banking-as-a-service (BaaS) partners. Harden has been a member of Green Dot’s executive team since February 2022, most recently serving as senior vice president of product development responsible for overseeing the migration of Green Dot cards to a modern cloud-based card management platform.

Prior to joining Green Dot, Harden was managing director and head of core banking technology transformation at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, where he worked from 2017-2022. Prior to Mitsubishi UFJ, he served as a senior program manager at Bridgewater Associates from 2011-2017. 

Dave is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Jamison Jaworski

Senior Vice President, Retail

Jamison is GM and senior vice president of the company’s retail business and the Green Dot Network, responsible for overseeing relationships and growth of more than 90,000 retail locations nationwide. This includes all traditional retail verticals, and partnering with the company’s financial service centers of check cashers and installment loan merchants. He also leads the Green Dot Network team leveraging the company’s retail partners to move consumer funds for the company’s products and those of more than 250 partners.

Jamison has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry directing enterprise partnerships with companies including Walmart, PayPal, and Western Union, as well as market-leading retailers in the areas of mass, convenience, dollar, pharmacy and grocery merchants. Prior to joining the company, Jamison was the CEO of EML Americas, vice president of business development at Netspend (a TSYS Company), and senior vice president of sales, marketing and account management at Store Financial (EML).

Jamison holds a BSA in Marketing with a minor in psychology from Iowa State University. He is still an avid supporter of ISU sports and enjoys spending time with his family, boating and traveling.

Shaun Rowan-Popoff

Senior Vice President, Marketing

Shaun joined the company in 2017 and has served as senior vice president of marketing since April 2019, leading all centralized marketing efforts across the enterprise, including brand and lifecycle marketing, and social media.

Shaun joined the company from Hasbro Inc., where she led global marketing efforts for the digital and physical gaming expressions of some of the world’s most renowned family brands, including Scrabble, The Game of Life and Yahtzee. She started her career on Wall Street as a financial analyst in investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co., and after earning her MBA, transitioned into marketing at Mattel Inc., launching an array of Barbie dolls and accessories, video games and consumer products. Additionally, she managed the global relationships with McDonalds and Burger King for branded promotions at Mattel and has also worked at The Walt Disney Company and provided marketing consulting for various brands.

Shaun holds an MBA from The Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and earned her undergraduate degree from Howard University, graduating cum laude.

Timothy Willi

Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development

As senior vice president of finance and corporate development, Tim leads the financial planning and analysis team at the company, oversees the corporate development and strategic planning process and handles investor relations.

Prior to joining the company in September of 2021, Tim spent 27 years as an equity analyst, most recently at Wells Fargo Securities, with the last 20 years of his career focused on fintech research (one of the first analysts dedicated entirely to the industry). He has been recognized several times by The Wall Street Journal’s “Best on the Street” survey and has been a regular speaker at fintech industry conferences.

Tim holds a Bachelor’s in Finance from Bradley University. Located in St. Louis, he is married with three children and spends his free time trying to improve his golf game (with little progress), biking and spending time with his family.

Photo credit: Paige Newton