Financial services evolve when leaders query established methods of doing enterprise. The largest adjustments usually begin with a call to problem an present mannequin, method a troublesome downside in another way, or pursue a chance others have missed. Turning that imaginative and prescient into progress takes conviction and the skill to execute.
Tearsheet’s inaugural Vision Awards acknowledge the leaders placing that pondering into follow. Across banking, fintech, financial well being, and digital infrastructure, this yr’s winners are constructing companies and establishments that mirror a unique view of what financial services can obtain.
Get to know this yr’s honorees.
2026 Winners of the Vision Awards
1. SMB Champion of the Year: Revenued’s Solomon Lax
Solomon Lax, CEO of Revenued, earns the SMB Champion of the Year Award for difficult a financing mannequin that usually left small companies with costly, rigid capital. Drawing on his expertise working a big service provider money advance enterprise, Lax noticed that many SMBs wanted one thing nearer to a versatile line of credit score, main him to launch Revenued’s card and flex line in 2019. When COVID-19 disrupted that launch, he and his workforce pivoted the platform to help the Paycheck Protection Program with Cross River Bank, serving to underwrite a whole bunch of 1000’s of PPP loans totaling about $4 billion over the following yr. Lax then returned to Revenued’s core mission, rising the enterprise previous $500 million in originations and to roughly 15,000 prospects. Today, he’s increasing that focus past entry to capital, utilizing knowledge and machine studying to give SMBs higher visibility into their credit score, financial prices, and the way their efficiency compares with friends.
2. Transformation Leader: Happen Bank’s Scott Sanborn
Scott Sanborn wins the Transformation Leader Award for main LendingClub’s evolution from a market lending pioneer to Happen Bank, a multi-product digital market financial institution that mixes the development and innovation of a fintech with the stability and resilience of a nationally chartered financial institution. After turning into CEO in 2016, Sanborn led the 2021 acquisition of Radius Bank, strengthening the threat, compliance, know-how, and working infrastructure wanted to seamlessly carry lending and banking collectively. Along the approach, he championed progressive new mortgage funding constructions, which have since facilitated greater than $10 billion in private mortgage gross sales, and designed award-winning LevelUp financial savings and checking merchandise, which have deepened member engagement and supported a rising stability sheet that stands at over $12 billion in belongings as of Q2 2026 (up from Radius’s $1.4 billion at acquisition). Sanborn has additionally made AI a business-wide precedence, with about 90% of staff utilizing AI instruments and AI supporting over 90% of mortgage automation and file effectivity in mortgage servicing. The multi-year transformation culminated in the firm’s 2026 rebrand as Happen Bank (Nasdaq: HAPN), which exists to clear the approach for its greater than 5 million members to make it occur.
3. Women Shaping Finance: Worth’s Suneera Madhani
Suneera Madhani wins the Women Shaping Finance Award for difficult how financial establishments assess small companies and who will get entry to capital. As co-founder and CEO of Worth, Madhani is constructing AI-powered underwriting know-how that helps lenders make quicker, extra evidence-based choices utilizing a database of greater than 350 million verified enterprise profiles. The platform has helped establishments cut back onboarding time by greater than 55%, reduce utility abandonment by 43%, and enhance approval charges by 37%. She has introduced the similar give attention to entry to her personal group, the place ladies maintain 45% of management positions, and to the wider fintech neighborhood. Having beforehand constructed Stax Payments right into a billion-dollar fintech, Madhani is utilizing her expertise to broaden alternatives for small companies and the ladies constructing them.
4. Visionary Leader of the Year: Lumin Digital’s Jeff Chambers
Jeff Chambers wins the Visionary Leader of the Year Award for constructing Lumin Digital as a cloud-native digital banking platform from day one, now serving greater than 8 million customers. Drawing on greater than 25 years in fintech, Chambers based Lumin in 2016 to give neighborhood banks and credit score unions the know-how to compete in opposition to any competitor of their markets. The platform now delivers greater than 400 product enhancements yearly whereas sustaining 99.999% uptime. Lumin additionally has a monitor file of shopper success, with 100% profitable launches, no shopper losses, and a shopper NPS of 90+. An S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research research discovered Lumin shoppers understand 145% ROI after 5 years, with a payback interval of lower than 11 months. Chambers by no means stops innovating, conserving Lumin targeted on the newest applied sciences and advances so financial establishments can ship related, safe digital experiences whereas conserving long-term shopper success at the heart of his management.
5. Young Leader of the Year: Fruitful’s Sam Lewis
Fruitful’s Sam Lewis wins the Young Leader of the Year Award for constructing a financial automation mannequin that connects personalised steering with the skill to act on it. As co-founder of Fruitful, Lewis has developed a system that directs members’ earnings throughout payments, on a regular basis spending, financial savings, debt, and investments in accordance to their particular person targets. Drawing on his earlier expertise main product initiatives at Mastercard for shoppers together with Citi, USAA, and Capital One, he has introduced product design, AI, banking infrastructure, and financial steering collectively to take the burden of coordinating these choices off people. The outcomes level to significant progress: members automate a median of $54,000 in annual financial savings and $28,000 in annual debt discount, whereas 90% report feeling considerably much less financially careworn. With Fruitful serving members throughout all 50 states, Lewis is advancing a mannequin that measures financial services by the progress folks make, not merely the accounts they open or merchandise they use.
6. Fintech Leader of the Year: Best Egg’s Paul Ricci
Paul Ricci wins the Fintech Leader of the Year Award for steering Best Egg by a difficult financial marketplace for shopper lending whereas persevering with to develop the enterprise and its attain. Since turning into CEO in 2023, Ricci has helped develop Best Egg previous $40 billion in mortgage originations and a pair of.3 million prospects, whereas increasing its Financial Health platform. Ricci’s management extends to the group itself: staff voted him the ‘Top Most Loved CEO’ in 2024, whereas Delaware Business Times named him Top CEO of a Large For-Profit Business in 2025. His file displays a fintech chief targeted on scaling responsibly, broadening the firm’s position in prospects’ financial lives, and constructing a resilient group round it.
