Attorney Joel M. Eliza joined Caribbean Financial Group in February 2012. As General Counsel, he is responsible for all legal and regulatory matters related to CFG international operations. Mr. Eliza has experience in the public sector as Assistant Secretary of Legal Affairs in the Department of Treasury of Puerto Rico and as General Counsel of the Public Buildings Authority. He previously practiced insurance litigation at Otero & Lopez law firm. Mr. Eliza holds a Juris Doctor from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico School of Law and an LL.M. in International Law from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is licensed to practice law in Puerto Rico federal and local courts and in the state of Maryland.
Zamari has served as our Chief Administration Officer since November 2007 and has been with the company and its predecessors for 23 years in several roles related to Strategy, Corporate Development, Marketing, Branch Business Development and Incentives. She currently directs the Corporate Facilities and Human Resources departments. Prior to that, Mrs. Lopez worked for First Bank Puerto Rico for a combined 30+ years of experience in the financial business sector. Ms. Lopez holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico and a B.A. in Marketing from the College of Notre Dame in Maryland. Mrs. López reports to the President & Chief Executive Officer.
Ken has 32 years of financial services and consumer credit experience and has been with CFG for over 5 years. He has held senior financial management positions at Santander and Bank of America (formerly MBNA) and earned his CPA at Arthur Andersen. Ken has extensive capital markets experience with multiple issuers for various asset classes and unsecured debt. Mr. Goldman is a graduate of Lehigh University and a Certified Public Accountant.
Dan has over 10 years of financial services experience. He most recently worked for BayBoston Managers LLC, where he was vice president and focused on executing private equity transactions and developing investment portfolio companies in the banking and financial services sector. He is a graduate of Boston College where he obtained his BA as well as MBA and JD degrees. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Gustavo has 28 years of financial services experience in LATAM, Caribbean and US markets. As Executive Vice President of Collections & Insurance, he leads the development of insurance as a key revenue driver while directing all collections operations, strategy, process optimization, quality and resource development companywide. Gustavo has served in various management positions at CFG since 2008 and his previous experience includes strategic, managerial and operational roles at Wells Fargo and Procter & Gamble. Mr. Uceda is a graduate of Cornell University.
Eduardo has extensive experience in private equity, operations, and M&A. Prior to joining CFG’s team in 2019, Eduardo was part of the investor group that acquired the Company in 2018 and was a Board Member. Eduardo previously worked for over ten years in private equity at Amzak Capital Management and began his career as an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan. Eduardo received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, cum laude, and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Gian has been with the company and its predecessors since October 2005. He serves as EVP of Operations, providing strategic leadership and management oversight for all our markets and all country leaders report to him. Gian has over 25 years of retail financial services experience and has served in several roles related to branch operations, credit, strategy, change management, process optimization, servicing and loan organizations. Gian has a bachelor’s in business administration from Briar Cliff College, an MBA from Drake University and graduate from the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Karla joined CFG Partners in March 2008. In her current role of Vice President of Operations Performance and Customer Experience, Karla is responsible for the management of Incentive Programs, productivity by employee, headcount, accounts growth, the customer experience, online sales management and various other strategic initiatives. Prior to her present position, Karla served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development responsible for all marketing efforts including digital and traditional media, corporate image and Corporate Social Responsibility programs.
Prior to CFG, Karla began her career as an Industrial Engineer Co-op at Walt Disney World and worked at Evertec. Mrs. Vega holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and is certified by the Wharton School University of Pennsylvania in Digital, Social Media and E-Commerce.
Luis Félix has been with the company and its predecessors since June 2003. In his current role of Senior Vice President of Operations since September 2023, Luis is responsible for providing day to day oversight of the operations in the Dutch Caribbean and supporting the execution of the strategic plan across all markets. Previously, Luis served as the SVP Finance and Accounting and a key member of our Finance team for over 20 years. Mr. Félix has a M.B.A. in Global Management from University of Phoenix and a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico. He reports directly to the EVP of Operations.
José M. Figueroa has been working with CFG for the last twenty-five years in various managerial positions in our Finance, Accounting and Treasury Departments. He serves as our Executive Vice President Strategic Profitability Management since February 2019. He previously served as our Executive Vice President of the Financial Planning & Analysis, Treasury and Puerto Rico Operations during different periods from January 2013 to January 2018. Served as our Senior Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis from January 2007 to January 2013, as our Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis from November 2002 to December 2006, as our Second Vice President of Financial Planning from January 2002 to November 2002, as our Director of Corporate Financial Planning form March 1997 to January 2002 and our Manager of Financial Planning & Analysis from August 1993 to February 1997. Mr. Figueroa received a B.A., Cum Laude, in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Laura has been with the company and its predecessors since January 2004 and in her current role of Executive Vice President of Operations Risk and Control since March 2019. Amongst her responsibilities are Credit Administration, Corporate Policies and Procedures, Operational Risk Management, Process Efficiency Management and Project Management. Prior to her present position, Laura served as Senior Vice President and Vice President of Operations Support from 2006 to 2019 combined, and Quality Leader and Project Manager from 2004 to 2006 collectively. Laura began her career with General Electric as a Management Trainee and certified Six Sigma Black Belt, consecutively. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bucknell University.
Mr. Rowles joined the Company in May 2019. Mr. Rowles has 19 years of financial services experience. He most recently worked for 5 years at Penn National Gaming, Inc., which is now the largest regional gaming company in the U.S., as the Vice President of SEC Reporting and Accounting Policy. Before his role at Penn National Gaming, Inc., Mr. Rowles spent over 8 years at Santander’s US Holding Company, part of one of the 20 largest Global Banking organizations in the world. During Mr. Rowles’s tenure at Santander, he served as Senior Vice President of Regulatory Financial Reporting and General Ledger Analysis. Mr. Rowles brings significant public company and financial services experience. Mr. Rowles is a graduate of Liberty University and a Certified Public Accountant.
Nathan Staples joined CFG Partners in April 2019. Mr. Staples brings more than 18 years of experience in the consumer finance industry with executive focal points on financial & portfolio analysis, pricing and credit risk management, both nationally and internationally. Immediately before his current role as Chief Credit Risk Officer at CFG, he held the position of Chief Risk Officer for Skopos Financial in the U.S. sub-prime auto space and prior to that as Chief Credit Officer for Santander Consumer USA where he was an integral part of the successful IPO launch. Mr. Staples was also responsible for the roles of Director of Financial Analytics at SCUSA and Director of Risk Management for the Santander Consumer Division, a position he held while working at Banco Santander HQ in Madrid, Spain where he played a major role in inorganic acquisition opportunities along with profitability model development across Europe. Mr. Staples holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas, along with a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.
Jorge Bandin joined CFG Partners in December 2015. With over 28 years in the Financial Services and High Tech industries, Mr. Bandin has extensive experience working in large private and public enterprise environments. As Chief Information Officer his focus is taking business concepts/strategies and shaping them into deliverable technology outcomes. He was formerly the Global Chief Information Officer for BUPA World Wide in London, England. Mr. Bandin has also previously worked for companies such as John Alden, SunGard, American Bankers Insurance Group, Dow Chemical and Terremark Worldwide. He has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Florida International University.
Brett is the Head of Corporate Development, Capital Markets and Investor Relations at CFG. Prior to joining CFG in August 2015, he served as a Director in the Corporate Development team at BMO Financial Group. Brett holds a BBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
José Gonzalez has been in charge of all our branch and collections operations since December 2006. Mr. Gonzalez served as Executive Vice President of International Operations of Wells Fargo Financial Latin American Consumer Group from 1998 to 2006. Mr. Gonzalez also has 14 years of consumer finance experience at Island Finance, Puerto Rico, where he was a store manager, district manager and division manager. Mr. Gonzalez was educated at West Chester State College.
Carlos M. Garcia is the Chairman of the Board of Managers of Caribbean Financial Group since December 2014 and a board member since July 2014. Also, he is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of BayBoston Managers LLC and Managing Partner of BayBoston Capital L.P. Prior to that, Mr. Garcia served at Banco Santander in a series of executive roles, from 2011 to 2013 as Senior Executive Vice President and board member of Santander Holdings USA and Santander Bank N.A., and from 1997 to 2008 as President and COO of Banco Santander Puerto Rico, Vice Chairman and CEO of Santander Securities, Chairman of Santander Asset Management and board member of Santander Financial Services (dba Island Finance Puerto Rico). From 2009 to 2011, he was appointed Chairman, President and CEO of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico and also Chairman of the Fiscal Restructuring and Stabilization Board of Puerto Rico. Mr. Garcia has over 23 years of experience in the financial industry. Mr. Garcia received a dual bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School and in Comparative Literature from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former board member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, a member of the Young Presidents Organization, and a board member of the Hyde Square Task Force in Boston.
