Thomas “Tommy” Abel
Tommy Abel has spent thirty years building, scaling and repositioning companies at the intersection of financial services, fintech and cybersecurity. Along the way he has led teams of thousands, taken companies through acquisitions, sat in the CEO chair and helped launch products that reshaped categories.
He began his career at MBNA (Bank of America), where he rose to Executive Vice President of Small Business Banking. From there he became Chief Operating Officer of Swift Financial, a fintech lender later acquired by PayPal. He went on to lead global marketing and growth for Aon Cyber Solutions, head Product and Customer Experience at Upbound Group, where his team launched the industry’s first lease-to-own Mastercard, and serve as President and CEO of Sila, guiding its capital raise and operational turnaround.
Today he runs Abel Management, a Wilmington-based advisory practice. The thread across all of it is the same: build the team, scale the operation, sharpen the story, and grow into it.
Career
Operating roles, in order
1993 – 2006
MBNA America / Bank of America
Executive Vice President, Small Business Banking
Rose through credit policy, regional operations and portfolio acquisitions to run small business banking. Grew the loan portfolio from $700MM to $2.5B and led a team of more than 300.
2006 – 2011
Swift Financial
Chief Operating Officer
First direct national receivables lender for prime and near-prime small business. Led the re-launch as Swift Capital, the equity raise and debt facility, and the portfolio sale to Goldman Sachs. Acquired by PayPal in 2018.
2011 – 2017
Rockland Mills Group · Market Street Funders
Principal Managing Partner · Founder and CEO
Growth-stage consulting with a financial services vertical, then the first fully transparent search-and-placement marketplace in small business alternative lending.
2017 – 2020
Aon Cyber Solutions
SVP, Global Head of Marketing and Business Development; Global Growth Officer
Built global marketing, sales enablement and go-to-market for the Cyber Solutions practice, including the CyQu and Cyber Secure platform products.
2020 – 2022
Upbound Group
SVP, Head of Product and Customer Experience
Led product development, customer experience, sales strategy and analytics, and media relations. Team launched the industry’s first lease-to-own Mastercard.
2022 – 2023
Sila
President and COO; Chief Executive Officer
Money API for fintech with embedded compliance. Guided the capital raise and operational turnaround.
2023 – present
G8RTech
President and CRO; Advisory Board
Sports technology whose concussion-reduction product is in use on NFL sidelines.
2024 – present
Global Holdings
Chief Marketing Officer and Strategic Advisor
Repositioned the leading payments and debt-management platform for the U.S. debt settlement industry as the compliance-first fintech in its category.
2026 – present
CYPFER
Strategic Advisor
Commercial infrastructure and go-to-market for Cyrface, CYPFER’s AI-powered cyber risk platform, launched at the Databricks Data + AI Summit in June 2026.
Boards and community
Service alongside the work
Christiana Care Health System
Trustee, 2013 to 2019
Light Up the Queen Foundation
Board of Directors and Executive Committee, 2012 to 2018
Clif Abel Children’s Fund
Executive Director
William P. Frank Foundation
Board of Directors
Suiting Warriors
Founding Board Member
Ministry of Caring Guild
President, Executive Board, 2009 to 2011
Delaware Community Investment Corporation
Voting Member, Housing Loan Committee
Earlier boards
Baltimore County Police Foundation · Council on Economic Education in Maryland · Maryland Transit Advisory Board, Vice Chairman · Hunt Valley Business Forum, Executive Committee · Wilmington Friends School lacrosse coach
Recognition
Awards
Delaware Today, Top 40 Under 40
North Delaware Happening, Top 10 Movers & Shakers
Ministry of Caring, Giving Bowl Recipient
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Delaware, Heart and Soul Club Award
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, Patriotic Employer Award
J.D. Power Call Center Certification
First small business call center certified, achieved within six months of launch at Swift Financial, 2007 and 2008
Education
Bucknell University, BA in Economics. Varsity lacrosse.
Off the clock
Bucknell economics, varsity lacrosse, and a lingering belief that walking eighteen with a carry bag is the right way to play the game
He plays a lot of pickleball, smokes the occasional Connecticut shade cigar, reads about a book a week, and is currently deep in artificial intelligence, live music, and the unreasonable difficulty of learning a two-handed backhand later in life. Tommy and his wife split their time between Greenville and Dewey Beach, where summer evenings end on the balcony watching the sun drop into the bay.
