Franchise empires are grown here

Denise founded ApplePie Capital to create a new, more efficient source of capital for franchise businesses. As CEO and Chairman of ApplePie, she has raised over $45 million in equity and overseen loan originations of over $1.6 billion to franchisees across the United States.

Denise has more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in business and market strategy development. Her public and private company expertise spans the financial services, technology, healthcare, hospitality and online services industries, and she has led companies backed by leading venture capital firms, including QED Investors, Kleiner Perkins, Mohr Davidow and Sequoia Capital.

Denise has founded three other companies, and held executive and management positions with SharesPost, Healthiest You, Navigenics, LesConcierges, OffRoad Capital, Onyx Microcomputer, Post Communications, Kao Infosystems, and National Semiconductor.

She has been a guest lecturer at both the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley.

Mr. Inglis leads ApplePie Capital’s finance team. He brings over 25 years of experience in financial services and technology with a deep expertise in lending.

Prior to joining ApplePie Capital, Kirk served as Chief Executive Officer of Renew Financial Corporation. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial for Prosper Marketplace, a peer to peer lending marketplace. Kirk was instrumental in developing Prosper's business model and bringing it to profitability. In addition, he led the effort to get approval for the innovative business model with the SEC through an S1 registration process. Kirk also served in a variety of roles with Providian Financial Corporation, a leading credit card issuer. His roles included leading a team to executed strategic transactions to raise capital and liquidity, managing Providian's debt buying and collections operations, serving as CFO of their internet lending operations and managing the company wide FP&A function. Kirk also served as CFO of Calypso Technology, a leading global provider of technology solutions for the capital markets industry. He began his career as a Treasury Analyst with First Tennessee National Corporation.

Kirk holds a BA in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Memphis. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

James is responsible for overseeing ApplePie’s credit risk exposure, credit policy and lending operations. James is a financial services leader with over 20 years of industry experience in managing credit risk functions across a range of financial products in the areas of consumer and small business lending.

James has held senior management roles at large, established companies including HSBC, Capital One, and Wells Fargo, as well as early-stage company experience, helping to responsibly accelerate the scaling of growth at Renew Financial.

James’ roles have focused on building/leading teams in credit risk management, product development and analytics/modeling functions that include loan originations, servicing and regulatory compliance.

James holds an M.S. in Applied Economics and Finance from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Randy is responsible for managing ApplePie's business development team out of Plymouth, MI and growing our originations through franchisor and lender network partnerships. Randy has more than 15 years experience in franchise financing.

Randy comes to ApplePie from Funding Solutions, a highly successful franchise financing solution founded in 1999 and acquired by ApplePie in March of 2017.

Randy joined Funding Solutions in 2001 and during his time there oversaw the financing of thousands of businesses across the U.S. At Funding Solutions, Randy built strong and enduring relationship with franchisors and was instrumental in developing a diverse lender network to address the unique needs of their franchisees.Randy has a B.S. in Mathematics from Kalamazoo College, and a Masters in Sports Administration from Western Michigan University.

John is responsible for overseeing ApplePie's marketing strategy and leading our Customer Success efforts to ensure a seamless end-to-end customer experience. He has 20 years of experience in bringing new financial and technology products to market.

Prior to ApplePie Capital, John was Vice President of Marketing at NASDAQ Private Market where he led the launch of their marketplace for leading private companies. He previously served as Director of Commercialization at SharesPost, where he launched the firm's SharesPost 100 Fund, and as Global Head of Marketing for Thomson Reuters' Investment Management division. He has also held marketing leadership positions at Xignite, StarMine, and McMorgan & Company.

John holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from Canisius College.

Silvana is responsible for overseeing ApplePie’s product and development on mid- and long-term technology solutions, including the evolution of our applications and system architecture.

She has 20+ years of experience as an IT professional with specialized skills in technical and business architecture and 15+ years of experience within the Financial Services Industry.

Prior to joining ApplePie, she led small and large teams to advance technology solutions and overall organizational business strategy for both Wells Fargo and American Express. She has provided big-picture vision, defined/designed technology blueprints and drove innovative solutions to realize tangible value within the areas of consumer, small business, and middle market lending.

Silvana has a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from DeVry University, Columbus, Ohio.

Jamie is responsible for growing and nurturing ApplePie Capital’s brand relationships.

He brings close to 20 years of experience in franchising to ApplePie Capital. Prior to joining ApplePie Capital in early 2022, he spent 15 years in franchise development leadership with brands like Donatos Pizza, Checkers & Rally’s, Primrose Schools and FirstLight Home Care. Jamie holds a Certified Franchise Executive designation in addition to his broad background in institutional finance, golf course design, and politics. His distinctive experience and deep understanding of the franchise business model allow him to bring a unique perspective to his work with ApplePie.

Jamie is focused on helping exceptional franchise brands gain access to ApplePie Capital’s unique and disruptive franchise finance products.

Ron contributes to product strategy and growing ApplePie's brand partnerships. Ron has been active in franchising for 30 years.

Prior to joining ApplePie Capital, Ron co-founded and was CEO of Franchise America Finance (FAF) and later served as Principal and Chief Brand Strategist along with its affiliate, The Siegel Financial Group. The companies are leading resources connecting and supplying debt financing to franchise based businesses. At his role with FAF, he and his team created a brand based credit modeling strategy and was able to place 20+ captive lending programs with over $300 Million in committed funds during the great recession. Subsequently, Feldman served as the Chief Development Officer of FRANdata where he was integral in creating and implementing new credit scoring models forFranchise Brands and created processes for acquisition due diligence outsourcing, and supplier strategies within the franchise sector. Feldman was also an early franchisee in The Goddard School system.

As an active advocate of the franchising business model,Feldman currently serves the International Franchise Association (IFA) as Chair of the The IFA Foundation, and sits on both the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the association and has previously served as past Chair of the Supplier Forum Advisory Board. Feldman was awarded the Sid Feltenstein MVP Award for service to the IFA’sPolitical Action Committee (FRANPAC) in 2013.

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Tyler is the CEO of Bankers Healthcare Group.

Tyler brings a decade of financial services experience to his new role. Previously, he served in a dual role at BHG as both the Chief Business Development Officer of BHG and the CEO of BHG Patient Lending.

Since joining BHG in 2012, he has served in numerous managerial roles across the organization, and has led multiple new product and business development initiatives. Under his leadership, he has developed and grown BHG Patient Lending, a leading provider of patient financing to patients at ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals across the country. He also launched BHG’s Credit Card program, which has grown to over 40,000 customers and over $400 million in credit-card lines. Before moving to BHG’s corporate headquarters in South Florida, he oversaw BHG’s Manhattan office from its inception, which has grown to nearly 50 employees who manage BHG’s portfolio of products.

Tyler received his B.A. from Gettysburg College and also his Series 7 and 63 licensing from the National Association of Securities Dealers, as well as property and casualty insurance agent & broker licenses from the Department of Insurance in New York State.

Ed is a Partner at Signia Ventures.

Ed is an experienced executive, investor, and mentor. He has been the CEO of several Silicon Valley venture-backed companies and collaborated with NEA for over 15 years. Ed was CEO of InfoGear Technologies, a company he sold to Cisco in 2000. InfoGear developed and launched the original “iPhone” in 1997. This pioneering cloud-server, internet appliance provided consumers with telephony, email, web browsing, e-commerce and localized services. Earlier in his career, Ed was at Aspect Telecommunications serving as the VP of Marketing and Corporate Development. He helped guide Aspect from its initial product launch to becoming the second highest appreciating public stock company during his final five years at the company.

Ed has built, acquired, and managed product development, sales, and operating organizations throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Ed currently serves on the boards of ApplePie Capital, DLVR, Fortem Technologies, Pensa Systems, Scoop, and Swoop, and is a very active investor in OneD Material.

Ed received his B.S. and M.S. engineering degrees from MIT and graduated with highest distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School, where he also received the McKinsey Award in Marketing. Ed served for nine years as a trustee at Sacred Heart Schools Atherton.