About Lendistry

Everett K. Sands leverages his 20+ years of experience in banking to change the game for underserved small business owners who need access to responsible capital to reach the next level. Mr. Sands has shared his recommendations before Congressional committees and at conferences hosted by FORTUNE, the National Urban League and several industry-related events. He has appeared as a subject matter expert on national business media, including CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg. When Mr. Sands saw the accelerating trend of capital becoming less accessible and more expensive for small businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and rural-dwellers, he recruited an experienced team of fellow banking professionals and founded Lendistry. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sands is an Advisory Board member of The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR), and a Board member of The Center by Lendistry. 

Jeff has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, he served for 16 years as the CFO of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., a publicly traded middle market investment bank and full-service broker-dealer based in New York. Prior to that, Jeff was an audit partner at Deloitte, where he spent 14 years providing audit and business advisory services to banking and securities industry clients out of New York, Tokyo, and Seattle. Jeff is a graduate of Michigan State University with a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Kyle Funn brings over 12 years of business experience to Lendistry, both as a corporate attorney and in-house operator. Most recently, Mr. Funn was a senior corporate associate in the Los Angeles office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., where he advised private companies and venture capital and private equity funds in a variety of corporate and securities law matters. Prior to that, he was a corporate associate at Cypress LLP, where he provided broad-based corporate representation to start-up and private growth companies and private equity firms in a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, financial services, entertainment and media, and manufacturing. Mr. Funn received his undergraduate degree at Howard University and law degree at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Desta has more than 25 years of banking experience with large banks focusing on Risk Management. She is strategic and analytical with proven success in Credit Risk Modeling, Risk Management and Reporting, Allowance for Credit Losses (ACLs), Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL), Advanced Internal Ratings Based (AIRB) methodologies and rules and project management. Her recent experience includes Managing Director and Head of Reserve Methodology Analytics responsible for overseeing the ACLs, Credit Budget Forecast and Credit Policy SME for MUFG Union Bank. As Lendistry’s Chief Risk Officer, she is responsible overseeing the activities related to measuring, monitoring, managing, and mitigating internal and external risks. Leads Enterprise-wide Risk Management activities and serves as liaison with the applicable regulators and auditors with respect to the various aspects of risk.

With over 30 years of experience in finance, Todd oversees Lendistry’s revenue and credit teams in alignment with the company’s strategy, operational plans and processes, driving a high-performance, customer-focused environment. Prior to joining Lendistry, Todd served as Head of Business Banking, Small Business and SBA, he was also a member of MUFG Union Bank’s Management Committee. He has also held previous leadership roles at Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, California and Pacific National Bank, and Citizens Business Bank. Todd is active in his community and serves on several boards, including Los Angeles Urban League, PBS SoCal, San Diego State University Campanille Foundation, Junior Achievement and the Western Bankers Association. He holds a BS in Business Administration Finance/Accounting from San Diego State University and graduated from the CBA Executive Banking School at the University of Virginia.

Joe Kerwin has more than 20 years of marketing experience in financial services organizations, including a focus on the  commercial real estate and commercial lending space as a Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo. He has overseen and grown brands at large institutions and small technology and fintech startups. As Lendistry’s Chief Marketing Officer he oversees marketing, public relations and communications for the company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Arts from DePaul University.

Leeann Lynch is a member of Lendistry’s founding leadership team with more than 15 years of experience driving profitability in residential and commercial lending. With a holistic approach to organization-wide strategy, Leeann has shaped the company’s brand, elevating its technological capabilities as a means to maximizing its community impact. As Chief Strategy Officer, Leeann ensures decisions at all levels align with Lendistry’s greater mission and goals while cultivating a productive environment and progressive organizational culture. She actively identifies and reduces strategic risks, and drives technological innovation within the company to optimize quality and productivity of its platforms and systems. A graduate of Temple University’s Fox School of Business, Leeann is a board member at The Center by Lendistry, a non-profit that provides business education and technical assistance to small business owners.

Karthik Ramaswamy oversees all of Lendistry’s technological platforms. His recent experience includes Chief Architect of Digital Platforms at JP Morgan, where he oversaw the architecture of API and data frameworks at the firm’s Central Investment Bank, and VP of Framework Engineering and Digital Banking at American Express. Mr. Ramaswamy holds an MS in Operations Research from Clemson University and has experience leading teams to develop high-performance software products for startups and Fortune 500 companies.

Laura is a seasoned impact investor with over 15 years of experience. Most recently, she served as a Vice President in the Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the head of the access to capital component of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses. A recognized investor and thought leader, Laura has been tapped to advise many senior government officials at the federal, state, and local levels on creating strategies, policies and designing ecosystems that leverage public and private sector resources to create opportunities and equitable access to capital to entrepreneurs. She has led the design and execution of several public-private partnerships and investment funds to support minority entrepreneurs, most notably in New York City and Chicago, the latter of which has served as a model throughout the country.