Russell Bryant

Founder and CEO

Russell Bryant is Founder and CEO of TGUC Financial, Inc. (TGUCF) a Minority-Owned Fintech platform that originates loans for consumers. Prior to founding TGUCF, Russell founded and still currently runs The Go Urban Companies, Inc. (TGUC), a financial services advisory firm that provides unique solutions for investors and debt management companies looking for business development expertise and creative capital deployment opportunities with high-yield returns. Russell has sold performing, distressed, and bankruptcy portfolios in excess of $500 million while helping his clients maximize asset deployment opportunities and returns. From 2005-2008, Russell ran Go Urban.net, a website and prepaid debit card platform reaching the financially underserved African American community. Russell worked with Meta Bank, Palm Desert National Bank, and MasterCard to create Go Urban Prepaid MasterCard. From 2002-2005, Russell ran Bryant Enterprises, LLC., a real estate investment firm. He built the company from zero to a seven-figure real estate portfolio in approximately three years. Right out of college Russell co-founded the startup Velocity Services, an IT consulting firm providing services for small and mid-sized businesses. In two short years, Russell helped grow revenue from zero and sold the business.

In 2020 Russell founded The Go Urban Foundation a 501(c)3 with a mission to positively impact the lives of disadvantaged youth and underserved populations.  Russell earned his B.S.B.A. (Entrepreneurship) from Reinhardt University in 1999.

Randy G. Traub

Chief Credit Officer

Randy G Traub serves as TGUC Financial’s Chief Credit Officer, bringing over 30 years of retail, indirect, and home equity lending experience to the team. Prior to joining TGUC, Mr. Traub held consumer lending executive positions with IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union, Members’ Auto Solutions, and USA Financial Services overseeing loan originations, underwriting, business development, and loan servicing. Mr. Traub received his Bachelor of Business in Finance degree from Western Illinois University.

Bruce L. Christensen

Chief Commercial Officer

Bruce Christensen serves as TGUC Financial’s Chief Commercial Officer. In this position, he works in the home improvement industry to develop relationships with new and existing contractors and help them achieve success by funding more loans on our platform. He oversees marketing, sales, and general business services activities as well as recognizes the challenges, nuances, and growth opportunities that are constantly arising in the industry and utilizing this knowledge to help home improvement companies. Previously, he consulted as SVP Strategic Development and Initiatives at Service Finance Company, LLC, where he focused on the development of adjacent markets and opportunities for continued growth. He was also extensively involved in identifying and working with new markets, new industries, new initiatives, and new products. Prior to this, he was SVP And General Manager Home Improvement Products at Synchrony Financial where he led growth strategies for Synchrony Financials’ $13 billion payment solutions platform. Overall, he has over 30 years of experience with matrix management, sales, client relationships, forecasting, strategic marketing, and operations.

Brandi Hickson

Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Brandi Hickson is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for TGUC Financial. She is responsible for managing all brands, distribution channels and deployment of sales and marketing for our contractors and homeowners. She oversees the development and implementation of strategic sales and marketing plans based on company goals and clients needs that will promote sales growth and customer satisfaction for the organization. Ms. Hickson leverages several decades in sales and marketing with an emphasize in the financial market and FinTech space.  She is a double graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelors in Finance and a Masters in Education.

Lewen Albritton

Chief Financial Officer

Lewen Albritton serves as TGUC Financial’s CFO. For over 25 years Lewen has been a dedicated, energetic, cross-functional leader in strategic planning, financial and KPI reporting and analysis, process improvements, budgeting and forecasting, client profitability, pricing, and financial system implementations, among others.  He has served at New Life CFO for 5 years as a fractional CFO and Sr. Director serving small businesses in various industries.  He previously spent 13 years at Parago, Inc. and Blackhawk Network, a $2 billion public company, where he held a Sr. Director position and was responsible for managing over $1 billion in annual incentives. He also spent 8 years of P&L planning and reporting responsibility for the U.S., European and Canadian operations at Vartec & Excel Communications.

Lewen has an MBA from Louisiana State University and a BS of Accounting from Grambling State University

Greg Ahern

Chief Information Officer

Greg Ahern

Greg Ahern serves as TGUC financial’s Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for developing and managing the technical systems and platforms to make sure they communicate efficiently and accurately. Mr. Ahern has been in the internet industry since 1994; prior to joining TGUC, Mr. Ahern successfully founded and sold a number of businesses, including those in the lead generation space, conversion rate optimization, artificial intelligence, and others. Mr. Ahern has served as the founder and president of QuoteCatcherⓇ, a B2B lead aggregation business and founded OmetricsⓇ, a company that specializes in conversion rate optimization tools, and OchatbotⓇ, an AI chatbot for ecommerce and support. Previously, he was also the VP of Marketing for a financial services company that worked exclusively with credit unions. Mr. Ahern has a BSEE from Northeastern University and a patent in the detection of humans in a defined space.