Lightyear Capital Appoints Maria Veltre as Senior Advisor to Lightyear Fund V, L.P.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lightyear Capital LLC (“Lightyear”), a New York-based private equity firm focused on financial services, has appointed Maria Veltre as a Senior Advisor to Lightyear Fund V, L.P. and its parallel investment vehicles (“Lightyear Fund V”).

Ms. Veltre brings more than three decades of experience working in marketing, customer experience, digital platform development, pricing strategy, and product development, as well as regulatory compliance.

Ms. Veltre was appointed to the Board of Allworth Financial, a Lightyear Fund V portfolio company, in September 2021.

“Maria has been a great addition to the Board of Allworth Financial, assisting the company with its marketing efforts. We look forward to working with her now as a Senior Advisor to Lightyear Fund V, assisting in prospecting and due diligence on new opportunities,” said Mark Vassallo, Managing Partner of Lightyear.

Previously, Maria was the US Head of Digital and Innovation at Santander, a role she took on from 2018 to 2020. She was responsible for the alignment of Santander’s US businesses with Santander Group’s digital and product platform development. In addition, she oversaw Santander’s digital, marketing, and brand initiatives. Ms. Veltre joined Santander in September 2016 as Santander’s Chief Marketing & Digital Officer for Santander’s Consumer and Business Banking organization.

Prior to joining Santander, Ms. Veltre was the Chief Marketing Officer at both Fifth Third Bank and Citi’s Small Business unit, and before that held senior marketing and digital roles at various financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan Chase.

“Maria brings a compelling blend of both traditional marketing, digital, product, and customer experience to Lightyear Fund V. We are delighted to expand our already strong relationship with Maria and are confident that her successful background will benefit our current and future portfolio companies,” said Max Rakhlin, Managing Director at Lightyear.

Ms. Veltre stated, “I am thrilled to be working with Lightyear, a firm with such a strong industry reputation and impressive team. I look forward to bringing my experience and background to help evaluate investment opportunities and to provide strategic insight to Lightyear Fund V.”

Ms. Veltre also serves as an Advisory Board member for Reserve Squad, a new venture enabling large companies to retain women in the workforce, advance gender equality, and maximize labor investment through its in-house talent management solution.

Ms. Veltre holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, and an MBA, with Marketing Concentration from NYU, Stern School of Business.

About Lightyear Capital LLC

Founded in 2000, Lightyear is a financial services-focused private equity firm based in New York. Through its affiliated private equity funds, Lightyear makes primarily control investments in North America-based, middle-market companies associated with financial services, including asset management and wealth management, banks and brokerage, commercial and consumer finance, financial technology, healthcare financial services, insurance, and tech-enabled business services. Lightyear brings focus and discipline to its investment process, as well as operating, transaction, and strategic management experience, along with significant contacts and resources beyond capital. For more information, please visit www.lycap.com.