Meet the
Grasshopper team

Michael “Mike” Butler is an innovative leader in the financial services industry with a unique perspective on delivering superior customer service and leading cutting-edge technology to clients. Most recently, as President and CEO of Radius Bank, Mike was at the forefront of embracing technology, and leading a once-traditional bank to become one of the most tech forward banks in the country, garnering numerous awards for the quality of its digital banking platform and building a valuable banking business. Prior to joining Radius, Mike served as President, National Consumer Finance at KeyCorp in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a graduate of Providence College and the ABA's Stonier Graduate School of Banking. With Mike Butler at the helm, Grasshopper Bank continues its journey to become one of the leading tech-forward banks, rooted in a core venture business and supporting the innovation economy.

Mike is an experienced Finance professional focused on strategy, accounting, bank operations, investments, capital deployment and M&A. Prior to Grasshopper Bank, Mike was the CFO at Radius Bank until its sale to LendingClub in 2021. Mike has over 25 years of experience in financial services including senior roles with JP Morgan Chase Bank, State Street, Investors Bank & Trust and KPMG. Mr. Lenahan holds an MS/MBA degree in Accounting from Northeastern University in addition to his BA in Economics from The College of the Holy Cross.

Chris Tremont serves as Chief Digital Officer for Grasshopper Bank. In this role, Chris leads the digital strategy for the Bank, running its Small Business (SMB) and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) divisions, along with overseeing Product, Marketing, and Client Services. Before Grasshopper, Chris was the Executive Vice President of Virtual Banking for Radius Bank, helping to create and manage its award-winning digital bank. He led the Direct to Consumer (DTC), SMB, and BaaS business lines, achieving measurable success in the growth of deposits while also overseeing various support areas. Chris has helped lead successful equity investments in fintech companies while at Radius and Patriot Financial and is a frequent speaker and writer in fintech and digital banking. Before Radius, Chris worked at KeyBank in various roles within consumer finance. He graduated from Miami University and lives in Charlotte, NC, with his family.

Pete is a self professed "geek" and FinTech enthusiast with 16+ Banking experience focused on technology strategy, revenue growth, go-to-market strategy, corporate vision and operational efficiency. Pete brings to Grasshopper a unique, transformational strategy on partnership between Banks and FinTechs. Most recently he served as an Executive Vice President of Growth at Sensibill and Vice President of Partnership at MX.

Chris Mastrangelo serves as the Chief Compliance Officer at Grasshopper Bank, overseeing the bank's BSA/AML, vendor management, and compliance functions. Chris was previously part of the Federal Reserve's FedNow initiative, helping to enable the fintech ecosystem for the adoption of real-time payments. At the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Chris helped lead and grow the regional and community bank regulatory supervision function, focusing on enterprise risk management and innovation and strategy for community bank and fintech partnerships. Prior to the Federal Reserve, Chris worked as a supervisory examiner at the U.S. Treasury's Office of Thrift Supervision and was a college hockey referee in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Chris graduated from Bryant University and lives in Massachusetts with his family.

With 30+ years and counting, Barbara helped launch 5 new business lines within Banks and now a new Bank. Melding sales & credit, exceptional service, and flawless execution has enabled her to successfully produce profitable portfolios. As an experienced leader and sales manager, she's had the privilege to coach and mentor many talented individuals throughout her career.

Steve brings to Grasshopper 25 years of experience as a senior credit risk leader. Prior to joining Grasshopper, he was a Regional CCO at Leumi/Valley National Bank where he led general C&I, Commodity Finance and Lender Finance risk management. Prior to Valley, Steve was Head of US Credit Risk Management & Restructuring at Scotiabank where he was responsible for providing credit risk across all industries. Steve graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a BA in Political Science and Theater and from Boston College with a MS in Finance. He also holds both a CFA and FRM designations.

Dawn Gillette is the Head of Digital Lending at Grasshopper Bank, where she leads the bank’s digital lending businesses, including small business, SBA, and consumer lending. A seasoned financial executive, Dawn brings extensive experience across banking, fintech, and specialty finance. She has successfully built profitable lending businesses from the ground up. Known for her innovative approach, Dawn is passionate about leveraging technology to enhance financial products and services. At NBT Bank, she launched a national residential solar lending program and drove the digitization of processes across the organization. As CFO of Direct Capital, a leading small business lender, she built financing structures, drove significant growth, and developed the first fully digital secured financing process. She began her career at Bank of America. Dawn has served on several boards, including Stratyfy, Mendon Venture Partners, and Sungage Financial. She holds a BA from Boston College and is a CFA charterholder.

Arthur comes to Grasshopper as our Head of Commercial Real Estate, and is a dynamic leader with success in creating, building and expanding banking services and financial products to clients. He is experienced in all phases of commercial real estate lending and is a trusted advisor and financier to many of the region's top entrepreneurs, real estate developers and business leaders. For 14 years he was the Executive Vice President in Commercial Lending at The Bancorp and becoming its senior Philadelphia market executive and head of its community bank. His leadership experience progressed with the success at Cape Bank and most recently, prior to joining the Grasshopper team, was the Senior Vice President for The Bank of Princeton for the Philadelphia and South Jersey market. Arthur will leverage his banking experience and strong network to build a CRE practice into a driving new growth opportunity for Grasshopper.

Jim Velez has been financing Yachts since 1979. With over 30 years of industry experience, Jim prides himself on creating a frictionless lending process for all his clients. His expertise and connections within the industry allows Jim to deliver personalized loan offerings to his clients based on their unique needs.

As an accomplished HR leader, Lynn is excited to use her diverse experience across HR disciplines to design a progressive approach to scale for growth as well as develop holistic strategies for leaders and employees. A lifelong New Yorker, she only left her native land for the college years with stints in Boston and Scotland. Outside of work she enjoys listening to live music with her friends and exploring the world.

Michael “Mike” Butler is an innovative leader in the financial services industry with a unique perspective on delivering superior customer service and leading cutting-edge technology to clients. Most recently, as President and CEO of Radius Bank, Mike was at the forefront of embracing technology, and leading a once-traditional bank to become one of the most tech forward banks in the country, garnering numerous awards for the quality of its digital banking platform and building a valuable banking business. Prior to joining Radius, Mike served as President, National Consumer Finance at KeyCorp in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a graduate of Providence College and the ABA's Stonier Graduate School of Banking. With Mike Butler at the helm, Grasshopper Bank continues its journey to become one of the leading tech-forward banks, rooted in a core venture business and supporting the innovation economy.

Daniel is a Co-Portfolio Manager and Head of Macro Research at FJ Management – an SEC-registered investment advisor that analyzes and invests in the financial services industry. Prior to FJ Capital Management, Daniel was the Senior Research Analyst and Senior Vice President at FBR & CO.

As a bank investor and the former control shareholder of Bridge Bank, NA, John has over 30 years of bank investing & consulting experience focusing on new banks. He is currently President and Chief Investment Officer of Carpenter & Company.

Boris Gutin is Co-Managing Partner of GCP Capital. He has been a member of the GCP investment committee since 2009 and joined Greenhill Capital Partners in 2003. Prior to joining GCP, Mr. Gutin worked at American Securities Capital Partners and Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Jonah, a partner, and portfolio manager at Endeavour Capital Advisors, Inc, has thirteen years’ experience analyzing and investing in banks. With a strong analytical and finance background, he has direct experience with the innovation economy and was a founding shareholder in Square 1 Bank.

Cantwell F. Muckenfuss III is a retired partner in the D.C. office of Gibson Dunn focusing on regulation and public policy related to financial institutions. Previously, Mr. Muckenfuss was Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Currency for Policy and Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Mr. Muckenfuss is a founder and Chairman of the Board of City First Bank of D.C., a community development bank in Washington, and Chairman of City First Enterprises, Inc., the non-profit parent of City First Bank.

With more than 25 years of entrepreneurial banking experience, Kirk served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Continental Bank from its inception in 2005 through its sale in 2014. He also served on the investment committee of NewSpring Ventures.