Board of Directors

James C. Hale

Founder & Advisor, Columbus Strategic Advisors, LLC; Founder & Partner Emeritus, Financial Technology Ventures

Mr. Hale joined the Board in March 2014 and serves as the Audit Committee’s chairman and financial expert.

A recognized leader, investor, and pioneer in the financial services industry, Mr. Hale has launched and grown multiple businesses that leveraged his vision of the evolving financial services marketplace, his knowledge of emerging financial technologies, and his global network across top financial service companies, which he has built over several decades in commercial and investment banking. Mr. Hale founded and was a general partner of FTV Capital and its predecessor firm, FTVentures, an investment firm specializing in venture capital and private equity investments in financial technology companies worldwide. Before FTV Capital, he was a Senior Managing Partner at BancAmerica Securities (formally Montgomery Securities), where he founded the financial services corporate finance practice.

Bringing his substantial experience in public, private, and nonprofit board governance to bear, Mr. Hale currently serves as a Director of ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a global software company, and Mitek Systems (NASDAQ: MITK), a leader in mobile capture and identity verification. Until recently, he served as Chairman of the Board of Official Payments Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPAY), a public payments company. Mr. Hale’s directorships have also included ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXLS), a publicly traded business process outsourcing company; the State Bank of India (California), a California state chartered bank; and Public Radio International, a media company. In addition, he has served on the boards of many private technology companies and is currently a Director of Visual Edge Technologies.

Mr. Hale has advised scores of public and private companies, notably on complex financial transactions, an area in which he is an industry expert. Parallel to his board work, he advises growth companies as a consultant at Columbus Strategic Advisors, (CS Advisors, LLC), a firm he co-founded in 2011.