Freedom Financial Network Management Team

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 FFN to compliment and lead our settlement, sales, legal and customer service personnel. Please take a moment and familiarize yourself with the leadership at FFN.

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 start ups 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.

Bradford 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, 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, a $5.0 billion private equity fund, CIVC Partners, a $1.0 billion investment fund, and Doll Capital Management, a venture capital firm. Brad has also worked with two start-ups in operational roles: Trigo Technologies (sold to IBM) and Luminous Networks. He is an advisor and Board Member to several entrepreneurial companies, including Goldline International, BioIQ, Stream Dynamics, Group Card and Vitality Health. 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.

Jon Hallam – Executive Vice President of Operations
Prior to joining Freedom in early 2003 as the first full-time employee, Jon held operational roles at developing technology and e-commerce organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began his career in the financial services industry as a Project Manager at IPC in New York City. Later, he worked at Lehman Brothers as a Systems Analyst in the firm's real-time market data group. During a sabbatical from corporate life, Jon fulfilled a personal goal by becoming a certified wilderness EMT and working as a field instructor at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Jon received his MS in Management as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford Business School and his BA from Haverford College.

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.

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.

Scott Dennis – Vice President of Sales
Scott Dennis currently manages Sales for Freedom Debt Relief. Scott joined FDR from Teleleaders, Inc. where he was VP of Operations and Business Development. Previously, Scott was the LAN Manager for USI Insurance Services; Northern California Region. Scott has extensive experience in Call Center Operations; Process Management; and IT Management. Prior to USI Scott was the Worldwide Support Manager for Alteon Web Systems, Inc. where he oversaw the IT/CRM operations for over 800 users in 14 countries.

Kevin Gallegos – Vice President of Phoenix Sales & Vice President of Phoenix Operations
Kevin currently manages the Arizona Sales office. Kevin joined Freedom Debt Relief 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 FDR team Kevin worked with California Higher Education Loan Association, Southwest Student Services, and Bank One.

Marcia Hartstein - Vice President of Settlement Negotiations
Marcia currently manages the settlement and customer service office of Freedom Debt Relief based in Sacramento, CA. Marcia joined FDR from National Asset Services where she was the Director of Settlement Negotiations and managed over $25 million dollars a year in settlements. Marcia had previous experience as Director of Collections at InnoVentry and as a Recovery Specialist at Phoenix Resource Group. Marcia received a BA in Business Management from San Jose State University.

Matt Ledwith - Vice President of Business Development
Matt joined Freedom Financial from eBay where he was the Director of Seller Development. In his 7 years at eBay, he held various management positions in their Media products business and at Half.com. Most recently he was responsible for overseeing the growth of eBay’s Top Seller Account Management program and managing the PowerSeller program. Matt has over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry working in operational, marketing and business development roles at Bank One/First USA and MBNA. Matt received his MBA from St. Joseph University and his BS in Finance and Economics from La Salle.

Kyle McPherson - Vice President of Global Customer Service
Kyle manages all aspects of the FDR Customer Service Department. 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.

Samantha Sherman – Vice President of Sacramento Customer Service
Samantha currently manages the Sacramento Customer Service Department of Freedom Debt Relief. Samantha joined FDR from Universal Nationwide, LLC where she was the Director of Customer Service. Samantha had previous experience as the Director of the Fraud Department at InnoVentry and Packard Bell/NEC, Inc. where she was a member of the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI).

Virginia Sullivan – Vice President of Marketing
Virginia joined FFN from E-LOAN where she served as Senior Vice President of e-commerce marketing and launched E-LOAN’s Internet Retail Banking division. The highly successful launch in October of 2006 generated one billion dollars in online deposits in less than 7 weeks. Her specialty is focusing on the end-to-end customer experience to ensure customer loyalty and profitability. Prior to joining E-LOAN, she was a Vice President with Providian Financial where she managed the consumer deposits business. Her successes include the 2005 Alexander Hamilton Gold Team Award for Technology. Prior to Providian, Virginia was the Director of Marketing for Mortgage Information Corporation. Virginia started her marketing career with Bank of America’s Residential Lending Division. She is a graduate of Norwich University, a member of the Financial Women’s Association and the National Association of Female Executives.

Diane Vigil – Senior Director of Human Resources
Diane currently supports all HR initiatives for FFN. 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.

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.

Joaquin Arellano - Director of Accounting
Joaquin is currently responsible for overseeing Freedom’s Accounting Department. Joaquin has over 20 years experience in accounting and worked with such companies as Peat Marwick Main and Charles Schwab. Additionally, he has also worked with several other small companies establishing their accounting departments. Joaquin has received his BA in accounting from the University of San Francisco.

Stan Jones - Director of Settlement 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.