Ryan Katz

Ryan received a BBA in Finance from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees. In 1996, he was a founding partner of the FFELP Marketing Group, which helped originate over $1 Billion in Federal student loans to families from 1996 to 1999. Ryan was the founder of Goal Financial and served as the CEO of Goal from 2001-2009. Under his leadership, the company originated and securitized over $9 billion in Federal student loans. In 2010, Ryan led the conversion of Goal Financial into an ESOP, renamed Goal Structured Solutions (GS2), where he continued to serve as the Chairman of the Board until 2014. Goal Structured Solutions (GS2) has re-focused the Goal capital markets and administration business into a platform with over $20B of assets under management. GS2 provides trust administration, servicing, analytics, and underwriting for private and Federal student lending programs. In 2012, Ryan founded Route 66 Ventures, an investment platform based in Alexandria, VA. Route 66 Ventures provides venture capital, private equity and venture debt to emerging financial services and fintech companies worldwide. Ryan continues to serve as a Board member of GS2, as the Founding Partner of Route 66 Ventures, and as a Board member and advisor to portfolio companies across the Route 66 platform.