Board of directors

Max Levchin is the founder and CEO of Affirm, the payment network that empowers consumers and helps merchants drive growth. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Glow, a data-driven fertility company. Both companies were created and launched from his San Francisco based innovation lab, HVF (Hard, Valuable, Fun). Max was one of the original co-founders of PayPal where he served as the Chief Technology Officer until its acquisition by eBay in 2002. In 2002, he was named to the Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world as well as Innovator of the Year.

Prior to HVF, Max founded and was CEO of Slide, a personal media-sharing service, which was acquired by Google in 2010. Max also helped create Yelp Inc., a consumer internet company, where he served as Chairman of its Board of Directors from its founding in 2005 until July 2015. He served on the board for Yahoo! Inc., an internet company, from 2012 until 2015.

Max was born in Kyiv, Ukraine before moving to the United States and settling in Chicago in 1991. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he founded and led four other technology startups. Max is a serial entrepreneur, computer scientist, philanthropist and active investor in more than 100 startups.

Libor Michalek is Affirm’s President and oversees engineering, risk, operations, product and design. He previously served as Affirm's President of Technology and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining Affirm, Libor was an Engineering Director at YouTube and Google where he was responsible for Application Infrastructure & Site Reliability Engineering across multiple sites. During this tenure, YouTube tripled in page views, hours of video watched and revenue. Earlier in his career, Libor was the Chief Technology Officer of Slide, a personal media-sharing service, which was acquired by Google in 2010. Libor also served in software architecture and management positions at Topspin (acquired by Cisco), Egroups.com (acquired by Yahoo!), Talarian (acquired by Tibco), Thinking Machines Corporation and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Libor earned his B.S. in Computer Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Christa S. Quarles has served as a member of our Board since 2018 and as our Lead Independent Director since July 2024. Since September 2020, Ms. Quarles has been the Chief Executive Officer of Parallels and Executive Chairperson of Corel Corporation, a private software company. Prior to joining Corel, Ms. Quarles served as the Chief Executive Officer of OpenTable, Inc., an online restaurant reservation service, from 2015 to 2018. Before OpenTable, Ms. Quarles served as the Chief Business Officer of NextDoor, Inc., a social networking company, from 2014 to 2015. Leading up to NextDoor, Ms. Quarles held positions of increasing responsibility with The Walt Disney Company, including Senior Vice President and General Manager as well as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Operations for their Mobile and Social Games division. She came to Disney via its acquisition of Playdom Inc., where she had been its Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Quarles is a member of the board of directors of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, where she served as a member of the audit committee from 2016 to March 2021. Ms. Quarles earned her B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Jacqueline Dawn Reses has served as a member of our Board since January 2021. Ms. Reses is the current Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Lead Bank (since October 2021) and most recently served as executive chair of Square Financial Services LLC and capital lead at Block, Inc. (Square, Inc.), a publicly traded financial services company which provides services to small businesses and consumers, from October 2015 to October 2020. From February 2016 to July 2018, she also served as people lead at Square, Inc. From September 2012 to October 2015, she served as chief development officer of Yahoo! Inc. Prior to Yahoo, she led the U.S. media group as a partner at Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, a global private equity firm, which she joined in 2001. She serves on the board of directors of Nubank, Endeavor, and Taskus and she was the chairperson of the Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco until October 2022. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Economics with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Sánchez has served as a member of our Board since November 2023. Mr. Sánchez is adjunct professor at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and was president and CEO of Compass Bank, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (“BBVA“) from 2008-2017, during which time he served as director of the American Bankers Association, the Institute of International Bankers and the Greater Houston Partnership. Mr. Sánchez joined BBVA in 1990. Mr. Sánchez was selected to serve on our Board due to his experience in the banking industry, including in risk management, real estate, community, corporate and investment banking. Mr. Sánchez currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Fannie Mae and Stewart Information Services Corporation.

Brian D. Hughes has served as a member of our Board since July 2024. Mr. Hughes is an independent consultant and strategic advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, where he serves clients in the financial industry on growth strategy, digital transformation and risk management. From 2012 to 2021, Mr. Hughes served in roles of increasing responsibility at Discover Financial Services, including as Chief Risk Officer (2016 to 2021), as SVP and General Manager of Deposits (2015 to 2016) and as SVP of Cardmember Marketing (2012 to 2015). Prior to joining Discover Financial Services, Mr. Hughes held executive roles, including CEO, for HSBC’s Card and Retail Services business and served as a strategy consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

Richard Galanti has served as a member of our Board since July 2025. Mr. Galanti is the retired Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco”). Mr. Galanti joined Costco in March 1984 as Vice President, Finance and became Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in January 1985. Subsequent to the merger of The Price Company and Costco in October 1993, Mr. Galanti became Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, a position he held until March 2024. Mr. Galanti remained an Executive Vice President of Costco until his retirement in January 2025. In addition to his management roles at Costco, Mr. Galanti also served as a director from January 1995 until January 2025. Prior to joining Costco, Mr. Galanti worked in investment banking for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Ryan Schneider has served as a member of our Board since July 2026. Mr. Schneider served as Chief Executive Officer of Anywhere Real Estate, a global leader in residential real estate franchising and brokerage, from 2018 to 2026. He is an experienced public-company director and operator with deep expertise in consumer financial services, credit, technology transformation, and regulated industries.

Prior to Anywhere Real Estate, Mr. Schneider served as President, Card Business for Capital One Financial Corporation from 2007 to 2016, where he was responsible for the U.S., U.K., and Canada credit card businesses, and as a senior advisor from 2016 to 2017. Earlier in his career he was a partner at McKinsey & Company, with a focus on financial services clients.

Mr. Schneider currently serves on the Board of Directors of Elevance Health. He previously served on the boards of Anywhere Real Estate from 2017 to 2026 and Capital One Bank (USA) N.A. from 2008 to 2016. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.