MEET THE TEAM
Get to know us
Here at Curql, we’re partnering with fintechs to activate meaningful, experiential change through user-centric technology in financial services. Together, through an engaged and deliberate collaboration, we can bring your technology to life and to the credit union industry.
Craig Ibsen
Managing Partner
Duane Harris
Partner
Scott Hoekman
Partner
Dave Tucker
Partner
Michael Perrin
Vice President
Wyatt Powers
Analyst
Barbara Gooch
Director of Administration
Curql Investment Committee
Sara Dolan
Chief Financial Officer at
MSU Federal Credit Union
Nick Evens
President of
The Veridian Group, Inc.
Joel Swanson
Chief Member Experience Officer at
VyStar Credit Union
Casey Wilcox
President of
TDECU Holdings
Craig Ibsen
Managing Partner
Craig has over 25 years of investment, entrepreneurial and senior management experience in the US and globally. He served as an officer of Maytag where he led the operations of the Amana Commercial Division and Jade Products. Craig founded and was CEO of Appliancezone, a supply chain software company based in London. Craig is a co-founder of Rebound Enterprises, which invests in various companies. Craig currently serves on the boards of BirdDogHR, VIDA Diagnostics and was the Chairman of Global ID Group which was acquired by Inverness Graham in 2013. He is also a member of Plains Angels, an angel investment group and has made several investments in Iowa and around the Midwest. He holds an MBA from Drake University and a BA from Luther College.
Duane Harris
Partner
Duane has had over 30 years of experience in academics, business management, and private equity investing. He served as a professor at Iowa State University, worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and managed corporate M&A and business development activities at General Mills. Duane also helped build two private equity firms, first Churchill Capital and then Northstar Capital, that collectively have managed over $1 billion in investments. Duane also serves as a Partner of Capital Management Resources, an administrator for investment funds. For six years, he has been an active sponsor of the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute. He holds a PhD from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MS and BS from Iowa State University.
Scott Hoekman
Partner
Scott has had several experiences as a CFO, investor, and strategic advisor. In these roles, he has worked on transactions that total more than $2 billion and has served on four boards of directors. He previously worked with UICO (a venture-backed touch technology company), Maroon Analytics (a private equity and advisory firm), New Markets Pte Ltd (a family investment office in Singapore), President Bill Clinton Foundation (a non-profit), Long Point Capital (a private equity firm), and Bear Stearns (an investment bank). Scott is a member of Plains Angels and was a member of Hyde Park Angels in Chicago, and Scott has invested in several start-up companies. Scott holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Colgate University.
Dave Tucker
Partner
Dave is a long-time technologist and technology executive working to build product teams and technology companies. In recent years he has shifted his focus from building technology companies to investing in and advising them. He is the former Sr. Vice-President of Technology at Workiva, a cloud based financial reporting company, which he helped to grow from under 10 people pre-revenue to a 1600 person public company with over $350M revenue. His career in the technology industry has included variety of engineering and management positions with stints at large enterprises including Hewlett-Packard and Siemens and at startups including Workiva, Engineering Animation, and T.R.A.D.E., Inc.
Michael Perrin
Vice President
Michael has over eight years of experience in private equity, banking, corporate finance / M&A, and technology project management. Michael joined Next Level Ventures from Great Western Bank, a publicly-traded regional institution in the Midwest, where he was a commercial banker. He previously worked at Walmart Inc. in a number of capacities, including corporate finance, M&A, and merchandising technology. Before graduate business school, Michael spent four years in commercial real estate investment banking and private equity in Dallas, TX. He received a BS from Cornell University in 2009 and his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2015.
Barbara Gooch
Director of Administration
Barbara has over 25 years of experience in all administrative activities for private equity fund management. She built the administrative infrastructure for both Churchill Capital and Northstar Capital where collectively she managed the administrative function for five separate funds. In addition, Barbara serves as the Managing Partner of Capital Management Resources where, during the past 14 years, she has developed and managed the administrative function for six private equity clients managing 11 separate funds. She also has prior experience in various administrative roles at Citicorp and CenterPoint Energy. She received an AA degree from Pillsbury College.
Wyatt Powers
Analyst
Wyatt joined Next Level Ventures in 2020 out of public accounting where he worked with a diverse set of business entities of all sizes. He is originally from Boone, Iowa and holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Accounting from Iowa State University. In addition, Wyatt is a licensed CPA in the state of Iowa.
Nick Evens
Curql Fund Investment Committee Member
As President of The Veridian Group, Inc. (TVG), the wholly-owned CUSO holding company of Veridian Credit Union, Nick leads investment strategy and direction for the $5.2B institution. Based in Waterloo, Iowa, TVG’s holdings include Veridian Insurance and Veridian Fiscal Solutions with total staff over 45 strong. A key accomplishment during his tenure with TVG includes management of over ten direct minority investments in CUSO or former CUSO companies. Under Nick’s direction, Veridian Credit Union holds direct equity stakes in Alkami Technology and Moov Financial, and nearly $10MM in commitments in five venture or seed capital funds.
Key facts:
- Leads a board of nine directors who govern TVG
- Serves or has served on the boards of all CUSOs in which TVG
has ownership positions - Experienced in managing CUSOs with expertise in insurance, payroll services, commercial lending, mortgage lending, auto lending, loan technology, digital payments, credit cards, marketing, voice recognition, and a mobile wallet
- Co-founded VentureTech, a leading industry fintech forum
Noteworthy accomplishments:
- Sits on the Investment Committee of Next Level Ventures, Iowa’s first approved Innovation Tax Credit venture capital fund
- Helps support investment in over 30 start-up technology companies with over $50MM dollars of capital put to work over the previous eight years
- Started a seed capital fund in northeast Iowa that is invested in five start-ups
- Serves on the board of a co-working space offering acceleration
programming to start-ups - Mentors at two fintech accelerators
- Led the Veridian initiative to invest $5MM in Curql Fund and was named to the Investment Committee upon its inception
Joel Swanson
Curql Fund Investment Committee Member
As Chief Experience Officer of VyStar, one of the nation’s largest credit unions with $12B in assets, Joel leads innovation strategies to create lasting and impactful member relationships with the credit union’s more than 464K members worldwide. Most notable among his contributions at the organization is the creation of a $10M FinTech investment fund, envisioned as a result of the technology and operational insights gained while serving as Chief Digital Officer. Prior to VyStar, Joel held senior leadership positions at Alaska USA FCU.
Key facts:
- Serves on VyStar’s executive leadership team
- Leads digital experience, branch services for 60 locations, a 24/7 contact center with 250+ employees, operations, and payments efforts at VyStar
- Skills include successful performance in multiple C-level roles
- Oversaw a team of 600 throughout 87 multi-state branches as SVP of Branches and VP of Electronic Services for $9B+ Alaska USA FCU
Noteworthy accomplishments:
- Directed the investment of $2.5M in two separate rounds into Payveris, a digital money movement company whose valuation has more than doubled in under two years
- Finalizing a board-approved $5M investment for Nymbus, a banking-as-a-service FinTech startup
- Received additional board approval to raise VyStar’s FinTech Investment Fund from $10M to $20M
- Named to the Investment Committee of Curql Fund upon its inception
Sara Dolan
Curql Fund Investment Committee Member
As Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), Sara Dolan provides oversight for planning, implementing, and managing the credit union’s financial strategy. MSUFCU, headquartered in East Lansing, has $6.1 billion in assets and has ranked as a Top Workplace, large employer, by the Detroit Free Press for eight consecutive years. In addition to her work at MSUFCU, where she has served in leadership and management since 2005, Dolan is a passionate community servant, volunteering on boards and committees for numerous organizations.
Key facts:
- Serves on MSUFCU’s executive leadership team
- Responsible for managing the credit union’s financial position, investment portfolio, and annual operational budget, with oversight of 53 staff members
- Experience includes successful performance in multiple leadership roles, including CFO, VP of Finance/Adjustments, and VP of Adjustments
- Memberships include the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
Noteworthy accomplishments:
- Named the Michigan Credit Union League’s 2017 Credit Union Professional of the Year
- Honored with the 2018 Great Place to Work Leadership for All award, recognizing top female leaders
- Appointed by Governor Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Electronic Recording Commission
- Serves on the Ele’s Place Community Board and Finance Committee, McLaren Greater Lansing Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees, Delta Dental of Michigan Board of Directors, and Renaissance Health Services Corporation Board of Directors
Casey Wilcox
Curql Fund Investment Committee Member
Leading the way as President of TDECU Holdings, Inc., the wholly owned CUSO holding company of TDECU, Casey manages and guides for-profit businesses and CUSO’s for the $4B organization. In addition to his role at the helm of TDECU Insurance Agency, LLC and TDECU Wealth Advisors, Casey spearheads the CUSO strategy for TDECU including reviewing CUSO opportunities and FinTech partnerships that will drive non-interest income growth. Casey also manages TDECU’s direct equity stakes and over $4MM in venture capital investments.
Key facts:
- Is a board member in addition to being President of TDECU Holdings
- Serves on TDECU’s executive leadership team
- Delivers expertise in payments, credit cards, digital strategy, core evaluations, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, data science, and machine learning with a resume that includes Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, and Paretix, among others
- Founded and owns HapLee Investments, LLC, a fintech consulting company with a focus on real-time payments, faster payments, ACH, and cloud computing transition
Noteworthy accomplishments:
- Produced $185M bottom line PxV, offering clients strategies and solutions for success
- Co-founded and led company through early stages and created new transaction banking product and plans
- Consults fintechs on seed and A round capital investment needs
- Serves on the board of ePayAdvisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ePayResources providing payments-related risk management, compliance, and consulting services to financial institutions and businesses throughout the U.S.
- HapLee Investments and its subsidiary company’s efforts led several company’s through start up to full VC backing and exit. In addition, led FinTech acceleration and incubation with several companies in Tel Aviv Israel and Singapore.
- Led the TDECU initiative to invest $4MM in Curql Fund and was named to the Investment Committee upon its inception