People Capital was founded in 2008 by a team of world-class talent with backgrounds in
student loans, consumer finance, credit ratings and new media to develop the next generation
of credit risk management and funding for student loans.
Thomas Shelton, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Tom is a serial entrepreneur who had successfully incubated a diversity of businesses in the
United States and Europe including CyberStream Solutions, Strive Medical Technologies and
Jeremy's Microbatch.
He was the Deputy Director of a 25 year-old, non-partisan, national security non-governmental
think tank where he created entrepreneurial public-private partnerships and dealt with
government partners including the Treasury and Congress.
His first passion, however, is the student loan space. He began working in areas of human
capital and education finance while attending The Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania, and in 1998 won awards for his business plan. He has also held the position of
Vice President of Strategy & Operations for an education finance start-up.
Tom majored in Economics, with a concentration in Management, at The Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania.
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Al Alper, President & Chief Operating Officer
Along with day-to-day oversight, Al works in tandem with Tom Shelton on fund and capital raising.
Over the course of his 20+ year career, Al has brought several companies to market, raised in
excess of $100 million and created value propositions in excess of $300 million in revenue.
He is a recognized expert at devising global solutions that integrate technology, process,
application, infrastructure and organization. Al also brings outstanding experience in planning,
building and executing progressive IT solutions and has a proven ability to frame business issues
and create solution sets that drive business growth.
Al holds a BA in Business Administration from Baruch College, where he was awarded the National
Deans' List honor for four consecutive years. He also has an MA in Mathematics from Adelphi
University and is currently finishing his MBA degree in International Finance at CUNY, Barnard M
Baruch College.
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Alan Samuels, Chief Product Officer & EVP, Business Operations
Alan brings together a mix of strategy consulting and general management skills — with deep financial
services expertise. His last 10 years have been spent in the financial information and credit ratings
industry as a senior executive at both Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch Ratings.
During his tenure at S&P he incubated a number of new credit risk business lines, including the
development and launch of on-line credit assessment tools. While leading marketing, he worked with
McGraw-Hill Education to create interactive versions of the leading McGraw-Hill finance college texts.
He also oversaw M&A and strategic relationships for the corporation. At Fitch, he led the global
product development group, including taking on responsibility for the financial data operations.
He began his professional career in strategic consulting working for Arthur Andersen and Gemini Consulting.
A dual national of the UK and US, Alan holds a BA (Honours) and MA (Honours) in Law and Management from Cambridge University
in England, as well as an MBA in Strategic Management and Decision Processes from The Wharton School
of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Executive Board Member of the Manhattan Day School.
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John Nerenberg, Chief Information Officer
Most recently John was an independent consultant offering interim CIO services to several financial
services firms, including Curomax Corporation, a web 2.0 consumer finance company (subsequently sold
to Dealer Track). Prior to that John was with CIT and predecessor companies for nine years in positions including SVP,
Architecture and Standards for CIT and SVP & CIO for the Commercial Finance Division of CIT.
John holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MA in Telecommunications from George Washington
University and a BS degree in Physics from Drexel University.
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Brendan Pryor, Senior Vice President, Student Loan Operations
Brendan has more than 19 years of student loan operations, client/lender/trading partner relationship management
and finance experience in a variety of start-up, turn-around and rapid-growth companies. His past experience includes
multiple executive positions at Sallie Mae, including Director of Loan Originations, Director of Loan Servicing/Compliance,
and Corporate officer in the capacity of Senior Director, Servicing/Customer Advocacy. He also served as Director of
Operations/Compliance at Access Group, Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware. Most recently Brendan was the Executive-Vice President
and COO for The New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation (NHHEAF) Network Organizations, where he was responsible
for Loan Servicing, Customer Service, Marketing/Sales, Corporate Outreach, and Administration/Facilities.
Brendan has been involved with several Student Loan Industry Organizations including NCHELP Program Operations,
Student Loan Servicing Alliance (SLSA), Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) and ELM Operations/Marketing committees.
Brendan was educated at St. John's University in Jamaica, New York where he received both an Associate of Arts Degree
in Liberal Arts and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Legal Assistance.
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Frederic Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Business Development - Capital Markets
Prior to joining People Capital, Fred was a partner in the Structured Finance Group at Brown Rudnick and a
partner in the Structured Finance & Derivatives Group at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He also spent two years as
a banker in the ABS group at Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc.
Fred has been in the structured finance business for 15 years focusing on complex asset securitization and
has represented issuers, underwriters, credit enhancers and other financiers of securitized debt in the primary
and secondary capital markets. He represented a student loan originator and servicer in connection with term
securitizations and conduit warehouse facilities, and represented the same entity in connection with its
unwinding and ultimate sale to Sallie Mae. He assisted Sallie Mae in connection with its privatization and
represented Lehman Brothers in connection with its potential acquisition of a large student loan originator
and servicer. In addition to student loans, Fred has handled securitizations and bond financings involving
credit card receivables, high yield and emerging market debt securities, trade receivables, auto loans,
manufactured housing contracts, home equity loans, equipment lease receivables, rental car fleets, railcar
leases, music and film royalties, and other entertainment and sports-related assets.
Fred holds a BS from Boston University College of Communication and a JD from Boston University School of Law.
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Amie Dorman, Vice President, Business Development
Amie has more than 12 years of experience building relationships with financial institutions. Most recently as a
Vice President in the Financial Institutions Group at JPMorgan Chase, where she was responsible for developing CEO-level
contacts and introducing new capital market, credit and equity solutions. Amie began her career at JP Morgan as a Vice
President in Community Development, where she was responsible for intermediary lending and investing in banks, credit unions
and loan funds that provided capital, liquidity and technical assistance to underserved markets. As Associate Director of HSBC
Bank USA’s Community Development Group she originated loans and investments to financial intermediaries in low-income communities.
She began her professional career as a Development Officer at AJWS supporting microloan funds in developing nations.
She is currently a member of the Loan Advisory Committee of the Partners for the Common Good, a nonprofit community
development loan fund and certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).
Amie holds a MA from Columbia University and a BA from University of Denver.
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Anne-Marie McGonnigal, Vice President, Business Development
Anne-Marie has more than 15 years of relationship-building experience with institutions and private individuals.
Her recent projects have included restructuring the fundraising operations for a national healthcare non-profit
and drafting marketing and fundraising materials for a transatlantic private equity fund of funds.
As the Chief Fund Development Officer for a national housing non-profit and CDFI, Anne-Marie built a team to lead
and manage fundraising for a $30 million organization. Prior to this, she was the Resident Campaign Director for
the Max Planck Society, where she set up what will be the largest fundraising campaign in Germany. Earlier
experience includes serving as the first Development Director for the American Academy in Berlin, where she
worked closely with a high-level board that included corporate, diplomatic and social leaders to build a
comprehensive program that increased significantly the institution’s donor base and established ties with major
foundations and wealthy individuals. As a senior associate with A.T. Kearney, she participated in high-level
projects and business development efforts with clients throughout Europe, including the establishment of a
prominent board and fundraising program for one of Germany’s key cultural institutions. Prior to A.T. Kearney,
she worked as a management consultant in the European telecommunications industry and as a fundraiser for
cultural and educational institutions.
Anne-Marie holds an MBA from the Foster School at the University of Washington and a BA from Mount Holyoke
College. She also studied at the WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management and completed an executive program at the
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. She is a member of the Financial Women’s Association and Women in Development in New York.
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James Wiegand Vice President, IT Development
Jim was, most recently, Senior Manager of Custom Development at Coach where he led all custom .Net development work
for the retail and corporate systems. Prior to that he was a Technical Delivery Officer at CIT Group. Earlier in his career
he held positions at Schering-Plough and Coopers & Lybrand.
Jim holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Clarkson University.
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Ruben Perez, Vice President, Product Management
Ruben's strong dotcom background is backed by product management and marketing experience
with Internet start-ups that have pioneered a variety of successful online business models such
as social networking, equity trading, publishing and applications. With his experience
as a Portfolio Analyst at Harvard Management, Inc., Ruben brings a deep understanding of financial analysis
as well as experience in managing large scale corporate initiatives at Thomson Reuters and Fitch Ratings.
Ruben holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University.
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Jacques Tohme, Vice President, Corporate Development
Jacques has a variety of transactional experience including several transatlantic assignments. Most recently he was contracted on transactions
in the financial services, renewable energy, mobile technology, and new media industries. Prior to that Jacques was an Investment Banking Analyst
at Freeman & Co., specializing in Hedge Fund and Broker Dealer M&A. There, he served on several key assignments including those for Lighthouse
Investment Partners, MatlinPatterson, First Albany Capital, Depfa Bank and Panmure Gordon. Prior to that he worked as an Equity Trader. Jacques
also founded 501(c)3 The Young New York Foundation which raises funds for charities dedicated to the betterment of New York City and serves on
several other fundraising committees.
Jacques holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, with a minor in Economics and a concentration in Finance.
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Vernon Coleman, Director of Student Loan Operations
Prior to joining People Capital, Vernon held the position of Manager of Operations & Disbursement with
MyRichUncle – MRU Holdings Inc. for four years. While at MRU, Vernon interacted with their servicers,
lenders and vendors. Vernon implemented and streamlined the MRU disbursement process to maximize efficiencies —
as well as disburse over $400 million in private student loans. Prior to MRU, Vernon was a Marketing
Assistant for the Institute for International Research (IIR).
Vernon continues his studies in Business Management, with a minor in Marketing, at Mercy College in New York.
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Laura Vincent, Research Analyst
Laura's prior work includes an internship with a Washington, D.C. non-profit organization that promoted the benefits of public
pension systems on retirement security. She worked closely with the lead economist to analyze the economic impact of public pension systems
in all 50 states and helped develop educational materials about the results. She went on to complete an Economics honors thesis to analyze
the impact of immigration on welfare generosity in Denmark.
Laura received a BA in Economics and was graduated with honors from Amherst College in Massachusetts.
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