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Ben Morales
Executive - Co-Founder - Board Member - Advisor
Professional Background
Ben Morales is a distinguished financial services executive with a wealth of experience spanning over 30 years in driving innovation and growth within the fintech industry. His multifaceted career has led him to take on numerous roles including CEO, board member, senior executive, and advisor, providing him with a comprehensive view of how to effectively lead organizations. His purpose-driven approach sets him apart as he continuously strives to create an inclusive world where equitable access to financial services empowers individuals to achieve their dreams.
Throughout his career, Ben has successfully built and scaled fintech startups, as well as cultivated transformative programs in technology, product development, payments, and cybersecurity. Recognizing the critical importance of aligning organizational capabilities with consumer needs, he excels at advancing business outcomes that foster diversity and accessibility in the financial sector. His strong commitment to making a difference is evident in his work with organizations focused on expanding access to essential financial tools, thereby enhancing financial capability, stability, and resilience for all consumers.
As a growth-minded leader, Ben has demonstrated an exceptional ability to navigate complex business environments by evolving his approach towards organizational transformation and agility. He notably earned an MBA mid-career, which provided him with valuable insights and knowledge that he utilized in launching and funding a successful, purpose-driven fintech initiative in both the U.S. and Canadian markets. Currently, he is spearheading a digital transformation effort aimed at establishing a more customer-centric organizational capability, emphasizing product development that is responsive to market dynamics and emerging opportunities.
Ben's diverse experience includes tenures as Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology and Operations Officer, and Chief Executive Officer, which have all contributed to his robust expertise in executing innovative strategies and solutions in organizations faced with ambiguity and in need of operational excellence. His multifaceted background enables him to engage effectively with boards, investors, and customers alike, ensuring that relevant and impactful products and services are delivered to meet the evolving needs of the market.
Education and Achievements
Ben Morales has pursued a rigorous and comprehensive educational path that has bolstered his expertise and leadership capabilities in the financial services industry. His academic credentials include a multitude of notable qualifications that have shaped his career trajectory:
- Executive Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Business Management at the University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business - This prestigious program equipped Ben with the strategic and managerial insights necessary for his future roles in executive leadership.
- Certified Chief Executive (CCE), CUES CEO Institute - This certification highlights his commitment to ongoing professional development and leadership in financial organizations.
- Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Business at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas - His foundational education provided him the essential knowledge in business principles.
- CUNA Management School, Credit Union Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison - This specialized training focused on credit union management and has played a significant role in his understanding of member-focused financial service organizations.
Throughout his career, Ben has held numerous impactful positions that illustrate his dynamic range as a leader in the fintech space. Notably, his experience includes:
- Senior Executive Product, Technology and Payments at WSECU - A role in which he lead product innovations and technology developments to enhance member experiences.
- Chief Executive Officer at QCash Financial - Where he played a critical role in steering the company's direction and fostering growth.
- Vice President of Information Technology at Nevada Federal Credit Union - In this capacity, he oversaw the integration of technology into financial services, improving efficiency and service delivery.
- Co-Founder Evangelist at QCash Financial - Ben was instrumental in the startup phase, which allowed him to shape the company’s vision and product offering.
Achievements
Ben Morales has garnered extensive accolades throughout his career for his contributions to the financial services and fintech sectors. His achievement highlights include:
- Launch and Funding of a Successful Fintech Initiative - His leadership in the launch of a financially inclusive fintech has had a profound impact on consumers' access to financial services in North America.
- Digital Transformation Leadership - Currently leading initiatives to evolve organizational processes towards a customer-centric focus, demonstrating his commitment to integrating digital innovations in financial services.
- Board Memberships and Advisory Roles - His participation as a board member and advisor at esteemed organizations like Virtuosity Consulting and PayverisCU illustrates his dedication to governance and strategic direction in the industry.
- Expertise in Advanced Technologies - Proficient in AI, data analytics, and cloud computing, Ben leads initiatives that incorporate cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize fintech solutions. His understanding of cybersecurity, data protection, and incident management has enabled him to effectively navigate the intricate challenges faced by modern financial institutions.
Ben Morales continues to be a visionary member of the financial services community, leveraging his wealth of knowledge, extensive experience, and unwavering commitment to inclusivity. His dynamic capabilities and leadership not only inspire growth in fintech startups but also serve as a catalyst for fostering systemic change within the financial services industry. Through his endeavors, Ben remains dedicated to enabling all individuals to access the financial tools they need to thrive, championing an ecosystem where financial capability, stability, and resilience are readily available to everyone.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.