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 Risk Officer at Grasshopper Bank, where he oversees the Bank’s enterprise risk framework. In this role, he leads the design and execution of risk programs across compliance, BSA/AML, fintech program risk management, operations, and client service. His focus is on balancing innovation with regulatory discipline to ensure the Bank’s growth and its safety and soundness. At the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Chris helped lead regional and community bank supervision, with a particular focus on enterprise risk management. He was also part of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow initiative, advancing the adoption of real-time payments across the fintech ecosystem. Earlier in his career, Chris served as a supervisory examiner at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision. He also spent several years as a college hockey referee in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Chris graduated from Bryant University and lives in Massachusetts with his family. Outside of work, he enjoys golf and spending time with his family at the Lake in Maine.

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.

Jai brings over 20 years of leadership experience in technology and innovation across multiple industries. Jai has a proven record of assisting many organizations in establishing robust data architectures and utilizing data to facilitate business transformations. Of particular note is his implementation of centralized data infrastructure and capabilities, across auto clubs and business lines within AAA - The Auto Club Group, facilitating data-driven decision-making and enhancing member experience. He has directed several transformative initiatives, including the banking core and finance systems transformation for Auto Club Trust, where he held the positions of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). During his early career, he served as a scientist for the Indian Space Research Organization. Jai holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering degree from Anna University, Chennai - India.

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.

Jim Fitzgerald is the retired former Chief Administrative and Chief Financial Officer of Eastern Bankshares Inc. and Eastern Bank. He had a long career in banking and joined Eastern in May of 2012 as Chief Financial Officer and helped the company grow from $8 billion in assets to over $25 billion at the end of 2024. Highlights during that time were the conversion from a Mutual to Stock institution and Initial Public Offering of the company’s shares in October of 2020, as well as 3 major bank acquisitions and the sale of the company’s insurance operations. In addition to leading the company’s strategic transactions, Fitzgerald was responsible for the financial operations of the company and had the credit, HR, technology, operations and real estate executives as direct reports. Immediately before Eastern, he was a founder and Chief Financial Officer of NBH Holdings Corporation that was formed after a successful capital raise in 2009 and completed four acquisitions including three from the FDIC in 2010 and 2011. Prior to NBH, Fitzgerald was the Chief Financial Officer at Citizens Financial Group from 2001 to 2009. In addition to the financial operations of the company, he was responsible for the company’s real estate operation and a member of the Executive Management Committee. Prior to 2001, Fitzgerald held a number of positions, primarily in mergers, acquisitions and strategy at a number of banking institutions including Citizens, Washington Mutual and First Fidelity Bancorp. Fitzgerald lives in Boston with his wife Linda and has three grown children. He is Trustee of the Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI) and the Savings Bank Retirement Association, and a past Trustee at the Cathleen Stone Island Outward Bound and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. He is a graduate of Lehigh University and received his MBA from Fordham University.

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.

Graham is a co-founder and partner in the Klaros Group, an advisory and investment firm focused on the intersection of banking and fintech/nonbank financial services. Graham’s background spans executive leadership, investment strategy, and public policy. Previously, he served as CEO of BancAlliance, an SVP of CapitalSource and founder of CapitalSource Bank, and also an investment partner focusing on financial services investments for Blue Ridge Capital Management. He was also an operating executive of Fannie Mae, a senior financial services aide to then Congressman Charles E. Schumer, and staff member in the US Department of Treasury. Brian currently serves as a director and chair of the Finance Committee for Accion Opportunity Fund, the leading community development financial institution focused on small business lending.

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.

Karen Solomon is a bank regulatory lawyer with more than three decades of experience spanning the public and private sectors. For most of her career, Ms. Solomon was a senior lawyer at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where her tenure included serving as the agency’s acting chief counsel. She is currently a senior of counsel in the financial services practice at Covington & Burling, LLP, where she works with fintech companies and banks of all sizes.

Jack Surgent, CPA, was the founder and managing member of GMS Surgent CPA’s which is a 30 person CPA firm specializing in taxation, financial reporting, and working with highly successful closely held businesses and high net worth individuals. He retired as of Feb. 1, 2025. Mr. Surgent also was founder of Surgent Professional Education that he started in 1985 and fully exited in a sale to a private equity firm in 2019. Surgent Professional Education is the largest provider of Continuing Professional Education to CPAs in the United States. In 2016 Mr. Surgent co-founded JM Surgent Capital to directly invest in private equity, real estate, alternative asset classes and mezzanine type lending. JM Surgent Capital uses its own fully discretionary capital base to invest in a wide variety of structure with both short- and long-term investment horizons.

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.