Leadership

We believe the most important part of any company is the people who represent it. We have a team of experienced executives, managers and board members at Freedom who have led our growth for over a decade.

Andrew Housser - Founder & Co-CEO

Andrew co-founded Freedom Financial Network in 2002 and Bills.com in 2005. Previously, Andrew worked in the financial services industry, doing private equity investing with Littlejohn & Co., a $550 million private equity fund, and also worked in investment banking for Salomon Smith Barney. In addition, Andrew has worked with two startups in operational roles: as Director of Business Development for Lorantec Systems, and in marketing at Abeona Networks. Andrew received his MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar and he received a BA from Dartmouth College Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Brad Stroh - Founder & Co-CEO

Brad co-founded Freedom Financial Network in 2002 and Bills.com in 2005. Bills.com and Freedom have been recognized by the Inc 500 list, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 100, and been named multiple times to the list of Best Places to Work in Silicon Valley and Phoenix. Additionally, Brad was named to Silicon Valley’s “40 Under 40” list and was named a regional winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award along with co-Founder Andrew Housser. Prior to founding Freedom, Brad was an investor in financial services and growth companies at TA Associates, CIVC Partners, and Doll Capital Management. Brad has also worked with two startups in product roles: Trigo Technologies (sold to IBM) and Luminous Networks. He is an investor, advisor and Board Member to several entrepreneurial companies, including Goldline International, BioIQ, Vitality Health, Vertical Brands, Custom Products, Homelight, Key Health, Robertson College, and Shopply. Brad received his MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and received a BA from Amherst College, where he captained the men's Lacrosse team.

Jeffrey Staley - Managing Partner

Jeffrey joined FFN from Summit Partners L.P., a growth oriented private equity fund with over $8 billion under management, where he was a Vice President and an active investor in a variety of sectors, including $200 million invested in financial services. Additionally, Jeff has invested in distressed commercial and consumer debt as a member of CarVal Investors, a value oriented principal investor with $12 billion asset under management focused on loan portfolios, corporate credit and real estate. Jeff received his MBA from Stanford Business School and he received a BA from Boston College Summa Cum Laude.

Rich Ransom - Chief Financial Officer

Rich is responsible for the financial, accounting and treasury functions of FFN and its related businesses. Prior to joining FFN in early 2008, Rich was CFO with Fenwick & West, LLP in Mountain View, CA. He has had extensive experience with professional and financial services organizations, including CFO roles at McCown DeLeeuw & Co., a middle market buyout firm with over $1 billion in assets under management, and Hamilton Financial Services Corp., a national mortgage loan originator and servicer. Rich received his MBA from Stanford Business School and a BA from Vanderbilt University.

Robert Linderman – General Counsel

Bob has more than 28 years of legal and transactional experience with a cross-section of businesses ranging from venture-backed startups to banks to public companies. Bob was one of the earliest senior executives at NextCard, a pioneering Internet consumer credit card company/special-purpose bank, and has served as General Counsel to a range of financial services businesses. For the past 12 years, Bob has specialized in the legal and business issues that occur at the intersection of media, regulatory and consumer finance activity. Bob earned his Bachelor's and Law degrees from Boston University, Cum Laude with distinction. He is a member of both the California and Massachusetts Bar Associations, and is an active participant in several professional organizations.

Ethan Ewing - President of Bills.com

Ethan runs the Bills.com consumer portal for FFN. Prior to joining FFN, Ethan was a Vice President for Experian Interactive, a leader in online marketing and advertising, where he was responsible for developing strategic online partnerships with many of the internet's largest properties, including Yahoo, MSN, and American Online. Ethan has also built and run a direct to consumer business unit for Ameriquest Mortgage, managed a mortgage origination operation and consulted on secondary market bulk mortgage acquisitions. Ethan received his BA from Denison University, where he was a captain of the men's lacrosse team.

Jon Pedley-Vice President, Product Management

Jon brings years of experience throughout the financial services industry, including time at Charles Schwab and JPMorgan, to Bills.com. Through tools like Bills.com's Should I Refinance calculator and the innovative Debt Coach tool he hopes to put regular people in the driving seat of their money decisions. When he's not at Bills, you can find Jon skiing the trees at Alpine Meadows, CA.  Jon graduated from the University of Cambridge and Stanford Business School.

Jim Brown, Esq. - Vice President of Tax Resolution

Jim has been a licensed California attorney since 1992, during which time his practice has included tax law, debt collection law, personal injury litigation, and corporate governance. Jim gained significant tax experience as an associate to the author of the seminal self-help NOLO tax guide, "Stand Up To The IRS."Most recently, Jim served as corporate counsel for Taxes.com, a national tax resolution service. Jim has completed a wide range of tax matters including offers in compromise, audits, payroll tax negotiation, lien and levy release and innocent spouse protection. He is licensed to practice in U.S. Tax Court. After completing an Economics degree from University of California, Santa Barbara, Jim worked as a production manager in the high-tech industry. He earned his law degree and completed post-graduate tax work at Golden Gate University, School of Law.

Kevin Gallegos – Vice President of Phoenix Operations

Kevin currently leads the Arizona Acccount Executive office, and oversees all front-end operations of Freedom Debt. Kevin joined Freedom with over a decade of sales and customer service management experience. Kevin holds certifications in call center operations and credit counseling. Prior to joining the team Kevin worked with California Higher Education Loan Association, Southwest Student Services, and Bank One.

Kyle McPherson - Vice President of Customer Service & Negotiations

Kyle oversees all aspects of FDR’s back office operations, including the Customer Service, Negotiations and Settlement Processing Teams. Kyle came to Freedom Debt Relief with 17 years of call center management experience with a focus on Customer Service, Sales and Operations. Prior to joining FDR, Kyle was responsible for running call centers for companies such as DirecTV, Cox Communications and Dell Computer.

Stan Jones - Vice President of Negotiations

Stan currently manages the Arizona Negotiations office. Stan joined Freedom Debt Relief with over 12 years of call center management experience with 9 of those years in collections. Prior to joining FDR Stan worked with Encore Capital, Southwest Student Services, USA Group, and EDS. He has his BA degree in Business and Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jason Wolpe - Vice President of Customer Service

Jason manages all aspects of the FDR Customer Service Department. Prior to joining the Team at FDR, Jason had over 20 years of call center management experience, managing medium to large call centers and virtual call centers with over 15,000 phone representatives. Jason spent over 10 years in the Direct Response industry servicing clients for Bose, Richard Simmons and Orlimar golf clubs.

Diane Vigil – Vice President of Human Resources

Diane currently supports all human resource initiatives for Freedom Financial Network. She has extensive background in Human Resources, Training & Development, Employee Relations, and Call Center Management. A San Francisco native, Diane has worked for many telecommunications companies including Cellular One, GTE Mobilnet, MCI Worldcom, and Verizon Wireless. In addition to telecommunications, Diane has worked in the non-profit and student loan industries.  When not keeping hundreds of employees happy and empowered, she and her husband Joe buy and restore very cool classic cars.

Kenneth Wandstrat – Senior Director of Affiliates and Underwriting

Kenneth is currently responsible for overseeing Affiliate relationships and development for Freedom Financial Network. Previously, Kenneth was an Account Executive with New Century Mortgage where he was responsible for new account development and broker relationship management. Additionally, he was the manager of Internet Business Development at New Century Mortgage. Ken received an MBA and BA from Xavier University.

Park Brees - Director of Partnership Development and Credit Counseling

Park currently manages partnership development and credit counseling initiatives for Freedom Financial. Previously, Park has worked as the Director of Sales for Leisure Sports Inc. and as a Manager/Agent in the financial services and products field for State Farm Bank. Park received his B.A. from San Jose State University.