Thomas F. Jasper

Thomas F. Jasper is a Director of the Company, Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee.  Since May of 2023, he has been the Executive Vice-President & Chief Operating Officer for Choice Financial Holdings (“Choice”), a $6 billion asset-sized bank holding company headquartered in Fargo, ND. In this role, he provides executive leadership over Choice’s banking as a service (or BaaS) business that services the fintech industry, as well as the strategy, finance, technology, operations and regulatory affairs functions. Since joining Choice, he has provided critical leadership over enhancing the company’s management team, go-to-market and investment portfolio strategies, risk management infrastructure, regulatory relationship management and board governance. He was previously the Managing Partner of Protagonist Path LLC, a privately held investment and advisory firm (Protagonist).  The firm makes investments across multiple industries and provides advisory services to its clients.  Prior to founding Protagonist, Mr. Jasper was the Vice-Chairman & Chief Operating Officer (COO) of TCF Financial Corporation (“TCF”).  He served as a board member at TCF from 2012 through 2019.  As COO, Mr. Jasper was responsible for corporate development & strategy, as well as other corporate functions including investor relations, government relations, legal, human capital management, finance and corporate operations.

Mr. Jasper served as Chief Financial Officer of TCF from 2006 through 2012.  During his tenure at TCF, he led many successful corporate and business development efforts, including TCF’s merger with Chemical Bank in 2019.  He was instrumental to TCF’s successful growth efforts during the heart of the financial crisis, including TCF’s expansion into the commercial inventory finance business.  He also had a critical executive role in multiple acquisitions for TCF’s leasing and equipment finance business.  Mr. Jasper has extensive leadership experience in a variety of debt and equity financings in various economic environments.  He has significant experience in federal government & regulatory relations.  Mr. Jasper began his career at KPMG LLP in their Minneapolis office’s audit practice serving clients across multiple industries for over eight years.  He is a graduate of St. John’s University in Minnesota, as well as a graduate of the American Banker’s Association’s (ABA) Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Mr. Jasper has served as a member of the Board of Directors since 2022.