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Owners Bank Appoints Four Trailblazing Executives to Leadership Team
[May 08, 2023]

Owners Bank Appoints Four Trailblazing Executives to Leadership Team


Owners Bank, a digital bank created to meet the unique needs of small business owners, announced today the appointment of four new executives to the company's leadership team. The appointees are Mahinda Yapa as Vice President, Digital Lending; Amy Apuzzo as Vice President, Digital Marketing Manager; Colin J. Kaye as Vice President, Digital Payments; and Nicole Castelli as Vice President, Senior Executive Coordinator. These leaders will work together to bring banking to a business segment that has historically not been represented by large financial institutions.

The new appointments join the current executive team - Founder & CEO David Mitchell, Chief Operating Officer Harry Gunsallus, and Chief Product Office Lizette Nigro - in leading the new digital bank. Owners Bank was announced by Liberty Bank last month as a means for addressing the unmet needs of small businesses and offering high-tech, high-touch solutions designed to make managing finances easier and accessing cash faster.



"With rich histories in fintech and digital strategy, Mahinda, Amy, Colin and Nicole each bring a level of experience that is unmatched in the industry," said Mitchell. "This exceptionally strong management team - paired with our unique approach - makes Owners Bank incredibly well-positioned to drive innovation and better solve systemic issues that small business owners face with the bigger banks. They will also be essential as we continue to expand our footprint nationwide."

Mahinda Yapa
Vice President, Digital Lending
With more than 25 years of experience in small business lending, Mahinda Yapa oversees the lending division of Owners Bank. He will also lead the bank's lending cloud platform strategy and implement its small business credit card, term loans, and lines of credit products.


Previously, Mahinda held the positions of Executive Vice President, Head of Credit Risk Management at Linear Financial Technologies (now Amount) and Director of Credit & Portfolio Strategy at Pitney Bowes. He also built a lending-as-a-service business for banks that serviced small businesses while at the Fundation Group.

Amy Apuzzo
Vice President, Digital Marketing Manager
Bringing to the table her expertise in digital marketing for digital banks, Amy Apuzzo leads the definition and implementation of marketing plans across the company, including corporate brand awareness, website development, brand content, public relations, and social media.

Amy previously led marketing for BMTX (formerly BankMobile) and most recently held the position of Director of Campus Marketing, where she developed a client communication strategy and B2B marketing strategies to drive the adoption of a digital bank.

Colin J. Kaye
Vice President, Digital Payments
A payment industry veteran of more than 25 years, Colin J. Kaye's is an expert in payment strategy, specifically in credit cards. At Owners Bank, he oversees all credit card products, processes, policies, procedures and portfolio management, as well as develop and execute the outsourced credit card program and manage all strategic credit card partnerships.

Prior to Owners Bank, Colin was Chief Operating Officer at Choice Merchant Solutions and a subject matter expert in digital disbursements at ACI Worldwide. He also had a long tenure at Fulton Bank as Senior Vice President/GM, Payments, Merchant Processing & Commercial Credit Card Solutions.

Nicole Castelli
Vice President, Senior Executive Coordinator
After more than a decade at Liberty Bank, Nicole Castelli has in-depth experience in retail banking, customer service, digital banking, and risk and project management. In her new role at Owners Bank, she taps into this rich expertise to research, develop, shape, and execute the bank's digital strategy, while bringing all areas together to execute a unified agenda.

During her time with Liberty Bank, Nicole received the 2019 President's Team Award and is a 2019 graduate of the Connecticut Bankers Association's Connecticut School of Finance and Management (CSFM). She is also a member of the Southern New England Chapter of Project Management Institute (PMI).

To learn more, visit www.ownersbank.com.

About Owners Bank
Owners Bank is all business, no BS. A new digital bank launched by Middletown, Connecticut-based Liberty Bank, one of the most established and innovative banks in the country, Owners Bank was created specifically to provide digital banking services tailored to the unique needs of small business owners and sole proprietors. It is designed to bring a high-tech, high-touch approach to small business banking through a suite of digital apps and banking services including deposit accounts, credit cards, and lending. The company's U.S.-based Business Banking Agents are specialists in small business banking and are available to offer solid advice via phone, online chat, email, or face-to-face within our online banking and mobile app. Owners Bank is currently available to businesses in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit www.ownersbank.com.


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