Firethorn is the only mobile financial services enabler with the vision and demonstrated ability to deliver the benefits of true mobile banking to financial institutions and consumers alike. With deep experience in bank technology and entrepreneurial leadership, Firethorn is led by:
Tripp Rackley
Chief Executive Officer, Firethorn
Tripp Rackley founded Firethorn in 2002. He has been a financial services innovator since
1995 when he founded nFront, Inc., an online banking services provider that was ultimately
sold to Digital Insight, an Intuit company, in 2000. Mr. Rackley served as
vice chairman of Digital Insight until 2002 when he became entrepreneur-in-residence
at Noro-Moseley Partners where he helped shape the future of many financial
services technology companies.
Tripp Rackley sets and directs Firethorn’s strategic
vision and mission as the premier mobile banking and payments
enabler. He serves as a driving force behind the technology
that powers Firethorn’s Mobile Consumer Wallet solution
and plays a pivotal role in securing and maintaining strategic
partnerships with financial institutions, financial content
providers and wireless carriers delivering Firethorn’s
Mobile Consumer Wallet solution to the marketplace.
Rackley
earned an engineering degree from the Georgia Institute
of Technology in 1992 and was named the Ernst & Young
2000 Regional Entrepreneur of the Year. Rackley serves
on the Board for the Alexander Tharpe Foundation for his
alma mater Georgia Tech, is a member of the Georgia Tech
Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) Advisory Board
and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall
of Fame.
Jeff Hodges
Chief Financial Officer, Firethorn
Jeff Hodges joined Firethorn in 2006 and is responsible for overseeing all budgeting, financial and accounting management, internal reporting and administrative functions. Hodges brings to his
role nearly 20 years of finance experience. Prior to Firethorn,
Hodges served as CFO and Corporate Secretary for PRESolutions
(now InComm), a leading provider of prepaid products.
Hodges also served as CFO and Corporate Secretary of nFront,
Inc., a leading provider of full-service Internet banking solutions for financial
institutions. Previously, Hodges served as Vice President and Controller of
Powertel, where he assisted in the completion of four public and three private
debt and equity offerings and participated in mergers and acquisitions.
Earlier in his career, Hodges was an audit manager for
Arthur Anderson, where he supervised numerous audit engagements
and special projects for technology, telecommunications
and electric utility service companies. Hodges is a Certified
Public Accountant in Georgia.
Rod Dir
Chief Operating Officer, Firethorn
Rod Dir serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Firethorn. As COO, Dir oversees the company’s sales, marketing, product development, customer care, product implementation and service delivery.
Mr. Dir has over 27 years in the telecommunications industry. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Cincinnati Bell, Inc., for all of the company’s business segments, including: wireless, broadband, local access, long distance and data center and managed services. He was responsible for the daily management and performance of consumer and business sales, marketing, product development, engineering, network and customer care operations.
Prior to Cincinnati Bell, Mr. Dir served as Chief Operating Officer of Powertel (now T-Mobile), an Atlanta-based wireless carrier that operated in 12 states and 34 markets throughout the Southeast. For Powertel, Mr. Dir was instrumental in developing the market and growing the company’s subscriber base to over one million subscribers. Mr. Dir also played a significant role in building T-Mobile USA’s nationwide retail business prior to joining Cincinnati Bell.
Mr. Dir currently serves on the board of advisors at the World Children’s Center, a non-profit organization that supports children who have been separated from their parents. A graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, Mr. Dir holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Chip Fishburne
Senior Vice President, Financial Services
Chip Fishburne is responsible for developing and executing the company's sales and relationship management initiatives to the financial services industry.
Fishburne brings to his role more than 26 years of experience in sales, sales management, service delivery and product marketing. Prior to joining Firethorn, he managed the technology consulting services practice at Unisys, where he was responsible for developing new business initiatives for infrastructure modernization and transformation consulting services. At this assignment, his team achieved six years of double-digital profitable growth.
Previously, Fishburne spent 20 years in increasingly responsible management positions in the Unisys financial services division specializing in image-based payment and transaction processing systems. There, he led the implementation of sales force automation and Six Sigma change management process improvement within the company's southern field operations.
Fishburne holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Appalachian State University.
Derek Porter
Chief Technology Officer
Derek Porter is Chief Technology Officer for Firethorn, where he currently leads the company's product management, engineering, quality assurance, data management and management information services divisions.
Mr. Porter began his career with IBM and after spending five years with the company, left to co-found nFront, Inc., a leading provider of Internet banking solutions for financial institutions. While at nFront, Mr. Porter was responsible for the design, development and data center operations of the company's award-winning Internet banking application. Following nFront's acquisition by Digital Insight (now Intuit) in 2000, Mr. Porter remained with the California-based company as Vice President of Technology. In this capacity, he served as liaison between various product teams and engineering departments ensuring the design and development of solutions adhered to the corporate technology roadmap. In addition, Mr. Porter was involved in the technology review and integration of various corporate acquisitions.
Ben Ackerman
Vice President, Business Development
Ben Ackerman is responsible for Firethorn's business development efforts. Prior to Firethorn, Mr. Ackerman served as Director of Business Development for BroadSource, a leading provider of telecom expense solutions, where he managed the company's strategic alliance development.
Prior to BroadSource, Mr. Ackerman served as Senior Director of Air Quality Sciences, a provider of solutions to create healthy indoor environments. As part of the senior management team, Mr. Ackerman was responsible for strategy development, information technology, and overseeing all aspects of company operations.
Mr. Ackerman obtained his Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering from Clemson University and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
|
