Avanti Announces Former Ford Motor Company, BlackRock Managers As Advisors

Longtime executives bring track record of financial innovation to Avanti

Avanti Financial Group today announced the appointment of Neil Schloss, former treasurer of Ford Motor Company; Bob Cullinan, former head of treasury IT at Ford; and Tim Keefe, founding partner of LedgerStat Capital and former managing director at BlackRock, as advisors to the digital asset bank. Keefe brings to Avanti deep expertise and relationships in both institutional asset management and Bitcoin. Schloss and Cullinan are assisting Avanti’s technology and product structure to meet the needs of corporate treasury customers, using Avanti’s API-based payment systems to solve invoice-to-payment reconciliation problems and improve treasury operations.

“It is a thrill to formalize for Avanti longtime informal advisory relationships I have enjoyed with Neil, Bob and Tim,” said Caitlin Long, founder and CEO of Avanti. “For years we’ve had fun spitballing about how to fix plumbing issues in financial markets, including the role of digital assets. Neil is one of my personal business heroes for what he and his team accomplished for Ford during the 2008 financial crisis.”

“Avanti is building API-based payment solutions to automate US dollar payment processes using software. I see opportunities for companies to use their solutions to solve day-to-day problems by seamlessly integrating payments processes with their treasury cash management systems,” said Schloss. “I see Avanti’s solutions as potential game changers for corporate treasurers.”

Mr. Schloss retired from Ford Motor Company in 2018 after a 36-year career at Ford. He was treasurer from 2007 to 2017 and retired after serving as Chief Financial Officer of Ford Mobility, the automaker’s integrated mobility solutions segment. He helped build the modern, agile Ford that exists today, playing a central role in engineering the plan that kept Ford afloat as the 2008 financial crisis devastated the auto industry. He also helped start Ford Mobility, which is one of the core pillars to the automaker’s future. Schloss is currently an independent director of Karamba Security, BNP Paribas U.S., and Phantom Auto, and serves on the investment committee of The Fisher Group/Fisher Foundation.

Mr. Cullinan retired as Director of Information Technology at Ford Motor Company, where most recently he was responsible for global IT resources in Ford’s corporate treasury department. Bob worked for Ford during his entire 49-year career in various domestic and international roles. He is an expert in corporate treasury management systems.

Mr. Keefe left the traditional asset management business after a 26-year career to build LedgerStat Capital, a digital asset advisor dedicated to building and scaling the Bitcoin ecosystem. Most recently he was a managing director and portfolio manager of equity funds at BlackRock. He spent most of his career as a portfolio manager at John Hancock Funds. He is currently a general partner at Off The Chain Capital.


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