Raj Date
Raj Date is the Managing Partner of Fenway Summer LLC, a Washington, DC-based investment and advisory firm focused on early-stage financial services and fintech opportunities. He invests through Fenway Summer Ventures, a specialist fintech venture capital firm, and Crossbeam Venture Partners, which focuses on new internet economies. He is also the co-founder of FS Vector, an advisory firm that counsels fintech companies on regulatory strategy, compliance, and public policy.
He serves as a Director for a number of innovative firms in financial services, including Green Dot, the consumer banking-as-a-service provider; Customers Bank, a technology-forward commercial bank; Linden Labs, best known for operating the virtual world Second Life; Tilia, the metaverse payments pioneer; and Circle, the issuer of the US-dollar stablecoin USDC.
For Raj, Fenway Summer is the latest chapter in a long and varied career in and around U.S. financial institutions — as a senior policymaker, as a bank executive, and on Wall Street.
Raj was the first-ever Deputy Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As the Bureau’s second-ranking official, he helped steward the CFPB’s strategy, its operations, and its policy agenda. He also served on the senior staff committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and as a statutory deputy to the FDIC Board. Before being appointed Deputy Director, Raj acted as the interim leader of the new agency, serving as the Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury. He led the CFPB for most of the first six months after its launch.
Before his time in public policy, Raj was a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Deutsche Bank Securities, where he led the firm’s investment banking coverage for the largest U.S.- based banks and thrifts. Before that, Raj was Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Development at Capital One Financial, where he led M&A development efforts across the U.S. banking and specialty finance markets. He began his business career in the financial institutions practice of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He has also served as an attorney in both private practice and government service.
He is a graduate of the College of Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (highest honors) and the Harvard Law School (magna cum laude).
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