About Us

Revolutionizing Commercial Lending Solutions

We are obsessed with delivering better solutions for business lending.

Easy. Fast. Equitable.

We believe that through the innovative use of data and technology, access to business capital can be easy, fast, and equitable. We are breaking down barriers, removing gatekeepers, and reducing friction so that hard working businesses can get the money they need to thrive.

Cerebro Capital was born out of frustration with a broken system, and seeing it fail for too many people. The process for getting a commercial loan is complex, opaque, and time-consuming – leaving good businesses unnecessarily struggling to operate and grow, and lenders unable to efficiently deploy much needed capital.

Our Leadership Team

Matthew Bjonerud

Founder & CEO

Matt has broad experience across many areas of corporate finance especially across debt and equity transactions. Most recently, with Laureate Education—a multi-billion dollar company with operations across 25 countries— Matt worked as part of the corporate finance team that ushered the company through $3.5 billion of transactions including Laureate’s IPO—the world’s first Public Benefit Corporation IPO. Prior to Laureate, Matt was a Vice President within the PNC Corporate Banking Group. He was responsible for growth and management of large-scale corporate and public finance portfolios.

Matt also served as the President of At Jacobs Well (AJW), a nonprofit that is the only exclusive provider of housing to the mentally ill homeless in Baltimore City. He is a graduate of Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Kevin Dieter

Chief Technology Officer

Kevin has over 25 years of experience designing and developing complex applications. Prior to joining Cerebro Capital, Kevin served as CTO at an expert network company serving the financial services industry. There he architected, designed, and built the core software platform products and services that were used by all employees, clients, and partners. Kevin graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Computer Systems Engineering and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, serving as a space & ground systems acquisition officer.

Chris Dalo

Executive Vice President

Chris has over 30 years of experience building, growing and leading commercial lending businesses at banks, non-banks, and Fintechs both in the US and Internationally. He began his career at GE in their premier Engineering and Leadership Development Programs followed by working at GE Capital leading businesses in Corporate Finance and Debt Restructuring. He later joined Standard Chartered Bank to become the Global Chief Commercial Officer – Commercial Banking covering 30 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Prior to joining Cerebro, Chris led Sales, Business Development, and Digital Partnerships at a Fintech SMB Lender. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Michele Hsu

Vice President, Marketing

Michele has over 20 years of experience as a hands-on marketing leader for highly competitive businesses most recently leading the transition from entrepreneurial start-up to scalable growth for a real estate private lender in the B2B market. With a deep background in database and business analysis she has developed growth strategies for multiple companies in the financial sector. As Chief Marketing Office for a specialty financial services company, Michele executed marketing positioning, branding, and campaigns across all channels including web, social media, and direct mail. She holds an MBA in Marketing from Bentley University.

Ridwan Zaman

Vice President, Finance

With over 13 years of experience in Corporate Finance, Ridwan has a broad range of expertise in financial planning & analysis, investor relations, capital financing, treasury, and data analytics. Prior to joining Cerebro, Ridwan was a business leader in Mastercard’s Corporate FP&A group driving multiple global initiatives, including long term strategic planning, company-wide budget setting, and expense management automation. In addition to being part of a large multi-billion dollar corporation, he also brings a background in both private equity and start-ups. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Our Board Members

Doug Becker

Board Member

Mr. Becker is a lifelong entrepreneur, investor, and operator. In 1983 he co-founded Sterling Partners; since then the firm has become a leading investor across many industries, having made over 80 investments over the years. Sterling Partners, based out of Chicago, IL currently has over $2.5 billion of assets under management.

Steve Reale

Board Member

For over 20 years, Mr. Reale has worked with private companies and small capitalization public companies in both investing and operating roles. He is the co-founder of Madison Bay Capital Partners, a growth equity platform where he was an investing partner and oversaw all COO/CFO functions. He also spent 14 years at Levensohn Venture Partners (LVP) where he worked on a wide range of companies and held several board seats. Steve is now the CFO and a Venture Partner at Ulu Ventures.

Jim McGuire

Board Member

Mr. McGuire’s background includes 16 years of leading a software-focused private equity firm. He has held executive positions, including CEO level, in the technology and software industry and early in his career was in commercial lending with a major U.S. bank. He has served on numerous public and private company boards, including Laureate Education, Inc. and Digital Insight Corporation. Digital Insight is now an NCR Corporation company.