Our Partners
Leaders with decades of expertise in late-stage fintech and public financial services companies management and investment.
Jerry Plush
Jerry Plush is a future-focused board director and trusted senior advisor with strengths in strategy, marketing, consensus building, and financial rigor. For more than 15 years he has served on the boards of public, private, and PE portfolio companies as well as non-profit and community organizations, bringing his business expertise and people focus to guide enterprises to standards of excellence in growth, brand awareness, team member engagement, and profitability.
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Most recently Chairman, President, and CEO of Amerant Bank, he led a transformation from 0% brand awareness to one of the fastest growing and well-known financial institutions in Florida. A key component of the transformation strategy was building visibility through community involvement and strategic partnerships with five professional sports teams across the state.
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As Amerant Bank Board Chairman, Jerry drove board expansion and diversification, adding six new board members as part of a director succession process, all of whom brought highly valuable skills and experience to the role. He also initiated the CEO succession process and a talent development program for senior leaders.
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Previously with the private equity firm Patriot Financial Partners, Jerry evaluated investment opportunities and represented Patriot on the boards of multiple firms in its portfolio of bank, financial services, and fintech investments.
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As CEO of Verdigris Holdings, he led the fintech start-up through regulatory application, organization development, and initial funding before transitioning to a seat on its board of directors.
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His prior executive experience includes progressive roles with Webster Bank and MBNA America. Culminating as President, COO, and Board Director at Webster Bank, Jerry led the organization through turnaround, transformation, and rapid recovery from the global recession. Notably, under his leadership, the bank achieved the largest pre-tax profit in its history and built a highly visible presence from Boston to New York through community and sports partnerships. With MBNA America, Jerry rose to CFO and Senior Executive VP and was a key player in transforming MBNA into a multi-line financial services provider with presence in international markets.
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As a Board Director, Jerry is known for building relationships and steering issues toward consensus. He is a valued resource for CEOs and executive teams who benefit from his depth and breadth of experience as a board member and committee member/chair, as well as his background as a CEO, COO, and CFO with financial services and fintech firms. Deeply strategic and forward-thinking, he embraces change and tackles challenges with enthusiasm.
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Jerry earned a BS in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and holds the NACD.DC Directorship Certification and CERT Cyber-Risk Oversight Certification. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
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Jeff Miller
Jeff is a Partner at JCSD Capital and has over 31 years of experience in the fields of investment management and analysis, with an emphasis on navigating through difficult, volatile and uncertain markets. JCSD is a long-biased, long-short financials hedge fund, with a focus on U.S. banks, payments, and Fintech companies. JCSD was founded in 2005.
Prior to joining JCSD in 2020, he was a Partner at Patriot Financial Partners, where he was the PM and CIO of the Freedom Fund, a long-short bank sector hedge fund. He was concurrently a Partner at Eight Bridges Capital Management, where he was the CIO. Prior to Eight Bridges, Mr. Miller was a Senior Vice President at Calamos Advisors, where he was the co-Portfolio Manager and head of Value Strategies. He was responsible for alternative and traditional asset management strategies, including Opportunistic long-short equity, a dividend-income fund strategy, and long-only equity strategies.
Prior to joining Calamos, he founded American Independence Capital Management (AICM) in 2007. The fund he managed was named Number 1 in its peer group, the Large-Cap Value Funds category, as tracked by Lipper, for the three-year and ten-year periods ended July 31, 2010. Calamos acquired AICM's team and track record in 2012.
Prior to merging his team into American Independence (AICM), Mr. Miller was co-Founder and co-Chief Investment Officer of Miller & Jacobs Capital, LLC (MJC) in 1997. MJC managed the Acadia Fund I, LP and Cerulean Partners, Ltd., which were long/short equity hedge funds focused on US special situation and value investments, primarily in financial services companies. At various times during his tenure, funds managed by MJC were ranked in the top 5 in their category by Barclay’s Marhedge. The Acadia Fund I, LP posted the #2 performance in the United States by an equity hedge fund in 1997 and was in the top 5 funds in 2000.
Before MJC, Mr. Miller was Vice President of Equity Research at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. where he covered regional banks and was responsible for 1/3 of the firm's bank coverage.
Mr. Miller earned his M.B.A. with Distinction from Cornell University. He also earned a B.A. in History with Distinction from Cornell, where he was a Decathlete on the Track & Field Team. He is the co-Founder and Treasurer of the Board of Directors of The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. He coaches High School Track in Portland, OR.