Eric Skovgard
Host of Fintech Firsthand
In 1994 I was studying Finance at the University of Northern Iowa and needed an internship before graduating. I went to the placement office and picked a posting at a bank I’d never heard of in Reinbeck, Iowa, Lincoln Savings Bank. That internship turned into a 28-year career of building and innovating. The bank grew from $70 million and three locations to $1.8 billion in assets, 17 locations, millions of customers and more than 400 employee-owners.
Our team was one of the first to offer Banking as a Service (BAAS) to Fintech partners, we established the LSB Foundation to deepen our investments in our communities, and we breathed life into a dilapidated John Deere tractor facility - transforming it into a collaborative work environment to serve as our headquarters.
I’ve learned my fair share of lessons over the last three decades. The path wasn’t always easy and there were plenty of roadblocks along the way. I’m far wiser than that young intern driving down a country road from Cedar Falls to Reinbeck. But like that college senior, I still believe my story has just begun. My passion is to inspire and motivate teams to produce amazing results. I look forward to building, growing and leading the next team of great people and amazing businesses.
Eric Skovgard has hosted three Episodes.
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Bankwell's Ryan Hildebrand: What's Next for Banking as a Service?
June 21st, 2024 | 56 mins 26 secs
ai, baas, bank, compliance, credit union, embedded finance, financial institution, small business
How do bankers get started in banking as a service or embedded finance? Hear from Ryan Hildebrand, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Bankwell Bank, New Canaan, Conn., about the development of innovation in banking. We also learn about Bankwell's new fintech, Casca (cascading.ai), an AI-assisted loan origination system, and Ryan's perspective on the future of BaaS.
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The Future of Core Banking and Embedded Finance
May 3rd, 2024 | 1 hr 5 mins
baas, compliance, core banking, embedded finance, financial institution, unit
In this episode, we talk with Itai Damti, CEO of Unit, about the history and future of embedded finance. In their early days, banking-fintech relationships required multifaceted innovation. Fintech products and services were already novel in some way, and then a bank and fintech would innovate again—through partnership—to bring those novel services to market. Itai and Erik talk about how technology is addressing what can become a friction-filled and clunky relationship. What does it mean for the future embedded finance or BaaS?
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Coastal Community Bank CEO Eric Sprink: Launching a Thriving BaaS Division
March 1st, 2024 | 1 hr 7 mins
baas, banking, banking as a service, bluevine, ccb, coastal community bank, erik skovgard, fintech, regulation, walmart, walmart one debit
Want to launch and grow banking-as-a-service? Here's how Coastal Community Bank developed the acumen to serve One (Walmart's fintech), Bluevine, and other prominent fintechs.