Adam Schlesinger

Experience

Over the past 25 years, Adam has held numerous C-Level transformation and revenue growth leadership roles at multiple large and medium sized banks and technology firms. As Executive in Residence at Inovia Capital, a $3.3B Venture Capital Firm, he advises mid to late-stage startups, provides board advisory services, and prepares companies for IPO and M&A. He currently leads Blynk Capital, an FI consulting firm which advises community bank and credit union CEOs and their boards as well as Fintech startup CEOs and their investors in emerging fintech trends, Payments (specifically stablecoins), Crypto and AI spaces (via LeapFI.AI), and serves as an independent board director for an OCC chartered U.S. Bank. He teaches AI for Bankers at Pacific Coast Banking School and LSU Graduate School of Business and works with Banks and Credit Unions across the United States to industrialize the use of AI.

Leadership & ventures

Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Adam has successfully built, scaled and exited multiple startups through acquisition by Zoom (Kites), Employer.com (Bench.co) and Bumble (Official), as well as via IPOs on the TSX, Nasdaq, and NYSE. As Chief Transformation Officer at First Republic Bank, he developed client-focused offerings rooted in technology, implementing innovative solutions that challenged traditional banking paradigms.

At National Bank of Canada, Adam served as Executive Leader MD, Breakout Ventures, where he innovated and built $1B+ game-changing revenue streams. During his earlier tenure, he transformed corporate data platforms, built digital marketing solutions that increased cross-sell rates by 32%, and led AI innovation initiatives—first as Vice President, Digital, Data and Emerging Payments and then as the Bank's inaugural Global Chief Data Officer.

Microsoft & consulting

During his 10-year tenure at Microsoft Corporation, Adam drove over $1.5B in revenue, leading the global relationship with Goldman Sachs, managing banking verticals in New York (including Bloomberg, NYSE, Barclays Capital, and Deutsche Bank), and overseeing the Financial Services P&L for Microsoft Canada with 18% year-over-year growth. His expertise encompasses investment banking, M&A, RIA, retail and commercial GTM, software sales, and enterprise consulting.

Adam has a consistent track record as a transformational leader who connects business needs to technology solutions, with expertise in digitization, Cloud and AI, FinTech integration, and business model innovation. His strategic approaches focus on reducing efficiency ratios and improving topline revenue and net promotor score.

Thought leadership & education

His publication Mitigating Container Security Risk Using Real-Time Monitoring with Active RFID and Sensors has been widely cited, and he co-edited Six Sigma for IT Management (2009). Adam serves on numerous FinTech and AI startup advisory boards and manages his family office's private equity funds.

He earned his Master of Engineering from MIT and Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University. Adam's leadership philosophy combines technical innovation with human-centered design to create sustainable business value. He currently splits his time between Miami, FL, Los Angeles, CA, and Montreal, Canada.