Jun 12, 2019 | 3 min read

Two Decades in Chicago’s Finance & Fintech Ecosystem with Randy Rivera

By: Patrick Emmons

Two Decades in Chicago’s Finance & Fintech Ecosystem with Randy Rivera

In this episode of the Innovation and the Digital Enterprise podcast, Randy Rivera stops by to chat with Pat & Shelli. Randy is a long time financial executive, entrepreneur and innovator in the emerging Fintech ecosystem. Randy gives his insights into the Chicago ecosystem, first as an executive then as an entrepreneur with keen advisors, the company he founded in 2018.

  • [00:33] - Who is Randy Rivera?
  • [06:50] - The Chicago business ecosystem
  • [13:05] - What makes a founder?
  • [17:52] - The first five
  • [20:05] - Developing and growing a company
  • [27:48] - The growing fintech space
  • [33:41] - Today’s Entrepreneurs
  • [38:59] - What it takes to make it
  • [43:43] - Tigers can’t change their stripes
  • [45:25] - Give and take people
  • [50:43] - Failure and tools to succeed

Randy Rivera is a former financial services exec turned entrepreneur. He spent almost two decades in banking, building businesses in commercial lending and private banking. Inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of the executives, founders, and owners that his businesses served, Randy founded keen advisors and co-founded quointec. Randy lives in Chicago with his wife and three children. A proud Georgetown and University of Chicago Booth alumni, he remains connected to his alma maters’ entrepreneurial communities.

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This podcast episode produced by Dante32.

About Patrick Emmons

If you can’t appreciate a good sports analogy, movie quote, or military reference, you may not want to work with him, but if you value honesty, integrity, and commitment to improvement, Patrick can certainly help take your business or your career to the next level. “Good enough,” is simply not in his vernacular. Pat’s passion is for relentlessly pushing himself and others to achieve full potential. Patrick Emmons is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Patrick co-founded Adage Technologies in 2001 and in 2015, founded DragonSpears as a spin-off dedicated to developing custom applications that improve speed, compliance and scalability of clients’ internal and customer-facing workflow processes. When he is not learning about new technology, running a better business, or becoming a stronger leader, he can be found coaching his kids’ (FIVE of them) baseball and lacrosse teams and praising his ever-so-patient wife for all her support.

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