Happy Money Appoints Matt Potere as Chief Executive Officer

Industry veteran joins fintech to drive next chapter of company growth, help financial partners scale through unsecured lending technology

Happy Money, a leading provider of unsecured lending that helps credit unions grow, today announced Matt Potere as its new Chief Executive Officer. Matt brings over 25 years of experience in the consumer finance industry, including unsecured lending and point-of-sale financing, and a proven track record of success in leading mission-driven organizations. 

Matt joins Happy Money from Sunlight Financial, a provider of affordable loans for clean energy projects, where he served as CEO for nearly a decade. Under Matt’s leadership, Sunlight funded over $10 billion in loans, representing over 250,000 families who were able to go solar, ultimately helping create a more sustainable future. Matt also held leadership roles at Bank of America where he led the Home Equity and Auto Products division to grow its market share by more than 50%.

“Happy Money has brought significant value to the market in recent years, creating a model that helps consumers streamline debt more quickly and affordably while enabling credit unions to attract new members and strengthen their balance sheets with a desirable asset,” said Potere. “Happy Money’s passionate and dynamic team, sophisticated proprietary underwriting models, and close ethos alignment with credit unions sets us apart. I’m energized to help drive the next chapter of growth at Happy Money as we continue to empower consumers to meet their financial goals and credit unions of all sizes to scale both digitally and nationally.”

The Happy Money platform enables credit unions to effectively fund personal loans to help consumers pay off debt more quickly, ultimately driving member acquisition and impact. Backed by TruStage Ventures, the company has a track record of success with the credit union community, originating over $6 billion in loans in partnership with credit unions, representing more than 300,000 new members.

“Matt is a seasoned leader with deep experience in end-to-end digital lending, which will bring considerable benefit to our credit union lending partners,” said Brian Kaas, President and Managing Director of TruStage Ventures and Happy Money board member. “His unique expertise and skill set, along with his strong cultural alignment, make him an ideal addition to Happy Money’s leadership team. Matt has already hit the ground running, and I look forward to seeing how he propels the Happy Money mission forward.”