Failed
Lefteris Acquisition Corp.
- Registration2020-10-02 Filed S1
- IPO2020-10-22 IPO, search begins
- Definitive AgreementNo merger agreement yet
- Failed2022-11-03 Merger Failed
- Raised
- $225M
- CIK
- 1822873
- SPAC Ticker
- LFTRU
- Focus
- FinTech, Technology, Unicorns
SPAC Team
Leadership
Mark Casady, our Executive Chairman, has a proven track record as Chairman and CEO of a major publicly traded financial services company and has led multiple successful acquisitions throughout his career. Since May 2015, Mr. Casady has served as General Partner and Chairman of the Advisory Board of Vestigo Ventures (“Vestigo”), a venture capital firm he co-founded that focuses on investing in early-stage FinTech companies. Mr. Casady’s investment thesis for Vestigo is that financial services are undergoing tremendous changes that require the industry to lower its costs and better serve clients. Vestigo backs early stage FinTech companies that can help bring these solutions to the incumbents. From August 2002 to January 2017, Mr. Casady held a variety of roles with LPL Financial Holdings, Inc. (“LPL”) (NASDAQ: LPLA) and most recently served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, retiring as Chairman of the Board in March 2017 and as Chief Executive Officer in January 2017. Mr. Casady guided LPL to become a leading financial services organization that serves independent financial advisors, banks and credit unions, and provides clearing services to broker-dealers at financial services companies. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE: HMN). He was a member of the Board of Directors of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) (April 2014 to April 2020), where he oversaw its transition to a public company, and Jobcase, Inc. (January 2019 to July 2020), where he oversaw its sale to PSG. He currently serves as an advisor to EverQuote, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVER). He also serves on the Board of Directors of several Vestigo portfolio companies, including Kingfield Corporation, ZenLedger.io, TowerIQ and Digital Asset Data, Inc. Mr. Casady is a former member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) Board of Governors and previously served on the EZE Software Group Board of Directors during its acquisition by TPG Growth and subsequent sale to SS&C. Additionally, Mr. Casady is treasurer of the Casady family’s One Step Forward Education Foundation, which focuses on changing the lives of children around the globe through education. He also helped found and fund the Invest in Others Charitable Foundation, which recognizes the philanthropic activity of financial advisors. Mr. Casady received his Bachelor of Science from Indiana University and his Master of Business Administration from DePaul University.
Mr. Casady is qualified to serve as a director because of industry expertise and his experience as a board member of financial services companies.
Karl Roessner, our Chief Executive Officer, has more than ten years of experience as an executive in the financial services industry with a demonstrated track record of leading growth and transformation, strategic turnaround, acquisitions and integrations. From September 2016 to August 2019, Mr. Roessner served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of E*TRADE Financial Corp. (“E*TRADE”) (NASDAQ: ETFC), where he led the company’s turnaround, significantly grew revenue, expanded operating margin, improved the rate of new account and net asset growth, executed key acquisitions and integrations to augment and enhance customer offerings and served as a key advisor to an active public company Board of Directors. Mr. Roessner concurrently served as President and a member of the Board of Directors of E*TRADE Bank, a wholly owned banking subsidiary of E*TRADE. After stepping down as CEO of E*TRADE and President of E*TRADE Bank, Mr. Roessner served as a senior advisor to E*TRADE from August 2019 to December 2019. Prior to being named CEO, Mr. Roessner served as E*TRADE’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from May 2009 to September 2016. Before joining E*TRADE, Mr. Roessner was a Partner at Clifford Chance US LLP in its Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Mr. Roessner has been proposed by American Challenger Bank, National Association to become one of its directors upon the approval of its application for a national banking charter, which has been filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Mr. Roessner received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Siena College and his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law.
Mr. Roessner is qualified to serve as director because of his industry expertise and his experience as a board member of a financial services company.
Jon Isaacson, our Chief Financial Officer, has nearly two decades of experience working in the private equity and venture capital industries as both an investor and executive. From January 2019 to December 2019, Mr. Isaacson served as the Chief Financial Officer of Senseonics, Inc. (NYSE: SENS), a portfolio company of venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, and provided advisory services to Senseionics from January 2020 to June 2020. Prior to joining Senseonics, Mr. Isaacson served as the Chief Financial Officer of Edelman Financial Services, LLC from November 2017 to December 2018. Before joining Edelman Financial Services, Mr. Isaacson served as a Managing Director for over 14 years at American Capital, Ltd from November 2002 to January 2017. Mr. Isaacson also held roles at Thayer Capital Partners, L.P., GTCR LLC, McKinsey & Company and Morgan Stanley & Co., LLC. Mr. Isaacson served as a director of each of ECA Medical Instruments, The Meadows and Alchemy Corporation from 2014 to 2016, where he served on the compensation and audit committees of each. Mr. Isaacson received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The Johns Hopkins University and his Master of Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
David Bergers, our General Counsel, has over 25 years of experience as corporate counsel, senior SEC regulator and private practitioner and has helped numerous companies proactively adapt to the constantly changing compliance and regulatory landscape of the financial services industry. Mr. Bergers has served as the Vice President of External Relations and General Counsel at Eastern Nazarene College since August 2020. Prior to joining Eastern Nazarene College, Mr. Bergers was a Partner at Jones Day from July 2017 to February 2020, where he advised companies in the wealth management and FinTech space on their compliance obligations and represented them in regulatory examinations and investigations. Before joining Jones Day, Mr. Bergers served as General Counsel and Managing Director for Legal and Government Relations at LPL from August 2013 to June 2017. Mr. Bergers also spent over a decade working for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from September 1998 to May 2000 and November 2001 to June 2013, including as Acting Deputy Director, Division of Enforcement, and Director of the SEC’s Boston office, with responsibility for oversight of registered investment advisers, broker-dealers and public companies in six New England states. Mr. Bergers previously held roles at Tucker Anthony Inc., Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP and Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. Mr. Bergers received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Eastern Nazarene College and his Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.
Ryan Parker, our Vice Chairman , has served as Principal at Parker Perspectives LLC, a provider of advisory, board and consulting services in the asset management, wealth management and FinTech industries, since January 2020. From June 2016 to December 2018, Mr. Parker served as the Chief Executive Officer of Edelman Financial Services, LLC, succeeding the company’s founder after 30 years to lead the fifth largest independent registered investment advisor (“RIA”) firm. Mr. Parker led all aspects of Edelman Financial Services, a portfolio company of Hellman & Friedman LLC (“H&F”), serving tens of thousands of client households with billions of dollars in assets under management, and worked with H&F to consummate a merger with Financial Engines that created the nation’s largest independent RIA firm – Edelman Financial Engines, LLC. Prior to joining Edelman Financial Services, from March 2013 to May 2016, Mr. Parker served as the Managing Director of Investment & Planning Solutions at LPL, where he was responsible for helping LPL advisors and institutions grow by leading the firm’s sales, marketing, product management and sponsor relations teams across the advisory, brokerage, insurance, planning and retirement businesses. Mr. Parker also served as a Managing Director at Russell Investments Group, LLC from December 2007 to March 2013 and a Director at Franklin Templeton Investments (NYSE: BEN) from October 2002 to December 2007. Mr. Parker served as a director of the Investment Program Association from January 2014 to June 2016. Mr. Parker received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan and an Executive Education certificate in Finance and Accounting from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Asiff Hirji, a member of our Board of Directors , has served as the President of Figure Technologies, Inc. (“Figure”), a blockchain-based home equity lender since January 2020. Prior to joining Figure, from November 2017 to June 2019, Mr. Hirji served as President and COO of Coinbase, Inc. (“Coinbase”), where he helped significantly grow the company’s revenue and valuation. Prior to Coinbase, Mr. Hirji was an Operating Advisor with Andreessen Horowitz from October 2016 to December 2017, Chief Restructuring Officer of Hewlett Packard Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) from November 2014 to March 2017, and served as President and COO of TD Ameritrade from July 2005 to October 2006. Mr. Hirji has also held senior leadership roles with TPG Capital, Saxo Bank A/S, Hewlett-Packard and Bain Capital, and has served on a number of public and private boards, including Citrix Systems from May 2006 to July 2015, Advent Software from September 2011 to July 2015, and Saxo Bank A/S from December 2010 to September 2018. Mr. Hirji has served as an Advisory Board Member for Nubank (Nu Pagamentos S.A.) since December 2019 and as a Director of Forge (formerly Equidate) since November 2019. Mr. Hirji received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University of Calgary and his Master of Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University.
Mr. Hirji is qualified to serve as a director because of his background serving as a board member of public and private companies, leading and scaling financial services companies as an operator and investing in private companies.
Charles Roame, a member of our Board of Directors , has more than two decades of experience providing strategic advice to CEOs, other senior executives and boards of directors in the banking, insurance, brokerage, investment management and FinTech sectors. Since April 1998, Mr. Roame has served as the Managing Partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors (“Tiburon”), a leading provider of market research and strategy consulting services to financial services firms, and has served as the Managing Partner of the Tiburon Partners Fund, a financial services and FinTech-focused fund, since August 2011. Prior to forming Tiburon in 1998, Mr. Roame served as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company from May 1992 to June 1995, and later as a business strategist at The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) from July 1995 to February 1998. Mr. Roame has served as a member of the Board of Directors at Edelman Financial Engines since January 2014, Facet Wealth since January 2018, and SA Mutual Funds since June 2012 and formerly served at Envestnet (NYSE: ENV) from August 2011 to September 2020, including as Vice Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Roame received his Bachelor of Arts from the Michigan State University and his Master of Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Mr. Roame is qualified to serve as a director because of his financial services industry expertise and his direct experience as a board member of financial services companies.
April Rudin, a member of our Board of Directors , is an acclaimed financial services and wealth management marketing strategist and Founder and President of The Rudin Group, a financial services marketing firm she founded in March 2010. Ms. Rudin has more than a decade of experience with The Rudin Group designing bespoke marketing campaigns for banks, wealth managers and family offices. Previously, Ms. Rudin served as a Global Office Automation Director at Kelly Services from February 1983 to September 1992 and as a Director of Business Development at Alpine Capital Bank from March 2007 to November 2009. Ms. Rudin has been a featured source of expert commentary in Huffington Post, American Banker, CFA Enterprising Investor, Investment News, Family Wealth Report and other trade publications. Ms. Rudin is a member of the Advisory Board at Private Asset Management, the Board of Advisors for Mirador, LLC and the Global Board of Directors for the Hedge Fund Association, for which Ms. Rudin chairs the High Net Worth Advisory Board. Ms. Rudin received her Bachelor of Arts from Wayne State University.
Ms. Rudin is qualified to serve as a director because of her industry knowledge and domain expertise, as well as her extensive experience advising financial services organizations as a board member.