The people behind Synapse: founders, investors, directors and officers

analysisSankaet Pathak founded Synapse in 2014 and was its chief executive until May 2024; he signed the bankruptcy petition in that capacity and was described as the former chief executive in the senators' letter of June 28, 2024 and by the trustee. Bryan Keltner is described as his co-founder: a business-press report calls him a fellow University of Memphis alumnus, a trade-press report says the two met at the university, and a corporate-data profile dates his role to April 2014. Hillary Quirk joined as head of operations in October 2014 after working as a program director at Start Co. in Memphis and, according to a trade newsletter citing her professional profile, stayed until August 2022; she too was described as a co-founder. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9}

analysisA 2024 trade-press report based on unnamed sources and internal records, which are not retained, says Keltner led compliance, at times as chief compliance officer, and sat on the early board; that he was removed from the board before the Series A while Quirk joined it with the title of co-founder; that he stepped back from day-to-day work in late 2017 or early 2018 and the company bought back his shares for a sum in the millions of dollars; and that Synapse later engaged him as a contractor, reporting to Pathak from November 2018 to July 2021 and to chief financial officer Mike Rasic from January to April 2023. Keltner confirmed the approximate timing of when he stopped regular work. The report dates the Series A to late 2017, while the company's announcement is dated September 6, 2018. ^{6 10}

analysisIn August 2024 a trade newsletter reported, citing multiple unnamed sources, that Evolve had engaged Keltner in some capacity to help with its Synapse reconciliation. Keltner neither confirmed nor denied working for Evolve, saying only that he was working on his own trading business, and Evolve did not respond to repeated requests for comment. ⁶

analysisThe 2015 Form D of Synapse Payments lists Jeffrey Webb and Douglas Marchant as directors and members and reports $700,000 of equity sold to ten investors. A trade-press report names Jeff Webb, founder of Varsity Brands, as one of the two sources of that initial investment, and the Form D director gave the Memphis address that Varsity Spirit gives as its corporate office; the identification rests on the shared name, city and address and on that report, and Varsity's contact page giving the address is a current record, not a 2015 one. Webb, who founded Varsity Spirit in 1974, died in March 2026, according to a business-press report. The trade press describes Marchant, who remained a director in April 2024, as a seed investor and a founder of the payments company Concord EFS, later acquired by First Data; a Memphis business-network profile of a Douglas J. Marchant names him as a founder of Concord EFS and Unified Health Services but does not mention Synapse, so that identification rests on the name, the city and the Concord EFS background. ^{11 12 13 6 9 2 14}

analysisOn September 6, 2018 Synapse announced a $17 million Series A led by Trinity Ventures and Core Innovation Capital, whose partners Schwark Satyavolu and Arjan Schütte joined its board. In June 2019 Andreessen Horowitz led a $33 million Series B with both existing investors, bringing total funding to $50 million, and general partner Angela Strange joined the board; a corporate-data aggregator counts $50.7 million over three rounds. Strange has been a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz since 2018, Satyavolu is a venture partner at Trinity Ventures and a co-founder of Yodlee and Truaxis, and Schütte is founder and managing partner of Core Innovation Capital; none of their current profile pages lists Synapse. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8}

analysisAccording to Pathak, the board at various times included Strange, Satyavolu and Schütte. He says Synapse had lined up a Series C of about $100 million in November 2022 and was pursuing a bank charter of its own, and stated in court filings that certain investor directors vetoed the round; Andreessen Horowitz, Trinity Ventures and Core Innovation Capital declined to comment or did not respond to a 2025 press request, so only his account is on the record. By April 2024 the board consisted of Pathak, Marchant and Quirk. Pathak acknowledged in November 2024 that this board approved two loans to him from Synapse, in late 2023 and early 2024, totalling $320,000; he declined to explain their purpose beyond saying he had good reasons that would become obvious relatively soon, and the loan documents and board approval are not retained. ^{9 10 11}

analysisTracey Guerin stated in a sworn declaration that she had been associate general counsel from June 14, 2018 and general counsel since June 2022. Michael Rasic was listed as an officer of Synapse and of Synapse Credit in Washington's registry; Connecticut addressed Synapse Credit's licence notice to him in September 2022 as chief financial officer and chief business officer, and a trade newsletter calls him Synapse's chief financial officer in early 2023. Victor Medeiros is described in press reports as Synapse's former corporate controller and a former senior director in its finance department. All remaining employees were terminated as of May 24, 2024, after which the Chapter 11 trustee ran the company. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

analysisJelena McWilliams, the Chapter 11 trustee, was sworn in as the 21st chair of the FDIC on June 5, 2018 and led the agency until 2021. She had earlier been chief legal officer of Fifth Third Bank, chief counsel of the Senate Banking Committee and an attorney at the Federal Reserve Board, and practised corporate and securities law at Morrison & Foerster and Hogan & Hartson. During the trusteeship she was a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which represented her as trustee; in January 2026 the fintech Plaid hired her as president of corporate and external affairs. ^{1 2 3 4}