Tricolor Appoints Kathryn Petralia and Antonio Garza To Board of Directors

Co-founder of Kabbage Petralia and former US Ambassador Garza bring decades of technology, finance, and international relations experience to fast-growing, AI-powered responsible vehicle retailer and lender


DALLAS, Dec. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tricolor, a tech-enabled Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and the nation’s largest used-vehicle retailer and lender for the Hispanic consumer, today announced the appointment of Kathryn Petralia and Antonio Garza to its Board of Directors. Petralia is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience building successful technology companies in financial services, while former U.S. Ambassador Antonio Garza draws on decades of high profile political, legal, and business experience.

“I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to Kathryn and Tony as the newest members of our Board of Directors,” said Tricolor Founder and CEO Daniel Chu. “As both pioneers and professionals, each brings enormous relevant and aligned experiences to our purpose-driven strategy to empower underserved consumers striving to achieve the American Dream. Their contributions will be critical to guiding our next phase of aggressive national expansion.”

Kathryn Petralia is the Co-Founder and President of Kabbage, an American Express company, where she helped pioneer the use of real-time data and automation to democratize access to financial services for historically marginalized, underbanked and credit-deficient small businesses. Under Petralia’s leadership Kabbage became the nation’s largest online lending platform for small businesses, helping over 500,000 customers access more than $16 billion to-date. Before co-founding Kabbage in 2008, Kathryn spent 15 years focused on digital credit, payments and e-commerce. She was named on Forbes’ 2018 list of the World’s Most Powerful Women and currently serves on the boards of CARE USA, Fannie Mae Digital Advisory Council, The Woodruff Arts Center, Padsplit, and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival. She also co-authored the 2019 Geneva Report on World Economics.

Antonio Garza currently acts as Counsel to the Mexico City office of White & Case, one of the world’s leading global law firms. Garza previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (2002-2009), was elected statewide to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1998 and served as the Chairman of that body through 2002 and was appointed Texas’ 99th Secretary of State and Senior Policy Advisor to then Governor George W. Bush and served from 1994-1997. The Ambassador has been honored with the “Aguila Azteca” or Aztec Eagle, the Mexican government’s highest award given to a foreign national, was recently inducted into the McCombs School Business Hall of Fame at the University of Texas, and has been named a Distinguished Alum at both the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University. Garza holds a B.B.A. from University of Texas, a J.D. from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tx. and is a Member of the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar, and admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. Garza currently serves as a director to Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU), MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI) and is a Trustee to Southern Methodist University. Mr. Garza formerly served on the board of BBVA Compass.  

Tricolor is a pioneer in the application of AI and other advanced technologies to drive its integrated used vehicle sales and lending platform. The company leverages advanced data analytics and AI to deliver high quality used vehicles at affordable loan rates for low income, credit invisible Hispanics.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), 26 million people in the United States are “credit invisible” and an additional 19 million are “unscoreable,” representing a total of 45 million people in the United States whose lack of a credit score limits their financing options for major purchases, such as a motor vehicle.

Tricolor empowers its customers by providing access to affordable financing for high quality, certified used vehicles, enhancing the quality of their lives and helping them build a better future. Since its founding in 2007, the company has served over 70,000 customers and disbursed over $1billion in affordable auto loans by using its proprietary AI-powered model to segment risk.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

For more information about Tricolor and Ganas, please visit tricolor.com and ganas.com.

About Tricolor

Tricolor is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and mission-driven company that sells and finances high quality, certified used motor vehicles through its premium brands, Tricolor Auto Group in Texas and Ganas Auto Group in California, utilizing advanced data analytics and technology to advance financial inclusion to a highly underserved market and offer responsible, affordable, credit-building auto loans to individuals with no or limited credit history.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Tricolor and its affiliate Ganas Auto Group operate over 40 retail dealerships across 14 markets in Texas, California, and Nevada with a shared services center in Guadalajara, Mexico. On a combined basis, Tricolor and Ganas have served over 70,000 customers and disbursed over $1 billion in affordable auto loans by using their proprietary model to segment risk.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Stephanie Hicks
Cosmo PR for Tricolor
(805) 295-9455‬
stephanie@cosmo-pr.com‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬


Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf411b00-cc1e-43bf-90ab-bc2fc59a929f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/60fe43fc-dcfc-4878-b300-41d7c51c9421


Kathryn headshot JJarman_AGarzaPortraits_202