Leadership
Kobalt Labs Names Thread Bank Co-Founder Paul Gallagher to Lead Bank Partnerships
By News Desk ·
Key takeaways
- Paul Gallagher joined Kobalt Labs to help lead Bank Partnerships, bringing more than three decades of banking operations, enterprise risk and vendor management experience.
- Gallagher was most recently co-founding Chief Operating Officer of Thread Bank and previously held roles at PayPal, First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Wells Fargo.
- Kobalt Labs raised $12.7 million earlier in 2026 and has been selected by banks and credit unions including Core Bank, Republic Bank of Chicago, InTouch Credit Union, ORNL Federal Credit Union, Chesapeake Bank, Middlesex Federal Savings Bank, SmartBank, MVB Bank and MRV Banks.
Paul Gallagher, most recently co-founding Chief Operating Officer of Thread Bank, has joined Kobalt Labs to help lead Bank Partnerships, the company said on October 16, 2026. Gallagher brings more than three decades of experience across banking operations, enterprise risk and vendor management, according to the announcement published by EIN Presswire.
Gallagher's Role Building Bank Relationships
In his new role, Gallagher will build and deepen Kobalt's relationships with banks, credit unions and fintechs, helping institutions modernize, streamline and strengthen back office operations. At Thread Bank, he was a co-founding executive responsible for loan, deposit and branch operations, customer support, IT, information security, project management, corporate real estate, and third-party risk and vendor management.
Before Thread Bank, Gallagher spent three years at Pinnacle Financial Partners as Senior Strategic Project Manager, reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer and serving on the Operations and Automation Committee with a reporting line to the Board Audit Committee. As Director of Enterprise Risk Management at PayPal, he drove second-line oversight of finance functions, including vendor management, through the Risk and Control Self-Assessment process. At First Republic Bank, he built the Lending Services Internal Control and Compliance Support function from the ground up.
Gallagher led the launch of Silicon Valley Bank's Private Bank, running loan, deposit, card, wire, digital and core operations. The business grew to 1,600 clients, $1 billion in assets and $25 million in operating income in three years. He spent more than a decade at Wells Fargo in senior roles, including SVP and Head of Private Banking Operations, where he ran a 96-person national support center serving 105 regional offices.
"Paul has sat in nearly every seat at a bank: operations, risk, compliance, and the COO chair," said Kalyani Ramadurgam, CEO and co-founder of Kobalt Labs. "Banks trust people who have carried that responsibility themselves."
Kobalt Labs Funding and Client Growth
Kobalt Labs has raised $11 million in a Series A round led by First Harmonic with participation from Alloy Labs and Y Combinator, bringing total funding to $13 million, according to akta.pro company records. The company has over 20 clients including fintechs and financial institutions managing large assets, and its funding rounds on record number two, the same records show.
Bank Deals Preceding Gallagher's Hire
MRV Banks selected Kobalt Labs in October 2026 to automate compliance for its fintech partnership program, replacing manual reviews, Globalfintechseries reported. MVB Bank partnered with Kobalt Labs in September 2026 to automate compliance workflows for fintech partner collaboration, due diligence and marketing compliance, Investing.com reported. SmartBank selected Kobalt Labs in September 2026 to modernize its risk and compliance operations across third-party risk management, marketing compliance and enterprise risk management, EIN Presswire reported.
Gallagher's Prior Banking Career
Gallagher holds a Master of Business Administration from the Yale School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University. Kobalt Labs was founded in 2023 and is headquartered in New York.