Banks don’t hand over their risk and compliance operations to just anyone. Kobalt Labs is betting a former COO with three decades inside the industry’s biggest institutions can open those doors.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Kobalt Labs, the AI-native risk and compliance operating system for financial institutions, has brought Paul Gallagher on board to spearhead its Bank Partnerships efforts. Gallagher’s resume spans more than thirty years across banking operations, enterprise risk, and vendor management, with his most recent post being co-founding Chief Operating Officer of Thread Bank.
In his new capacity, Gallagher is tasked with expanding and fortifying Kobalt’s connections with banks, credit unions, and fintechs, guiding these organizations toward more efficient and resilient back office operations.
From Running Banks to Protecting Them
At Thread Bank, Gallagher served as a co-founding executive, overseeing loan, deposit and branch operations, customer support, IT, information security, project management, corporate real estate, and third-party risk and vendor management. That final responsibility gives him direct insight into the vendor oversight burden Kobalt aims to eliminate.
Prior to Thread Bank, Gallagher spent three years at Pinnacle Financial Partners as Senior Strategic Project Manager. In that role, he answered to the Chief Administrative Officer, sat on the Operations and Automation Committee, maintained a reporting line to the Board Audit Committee, and directed post-acquisition strategic projects.
His risk and compliance expertise spans both traditional banking and fintech. As Director of Enterprise Risk Management at PayPal, he oversaw second-line oversight of finance functions, including vendor management, through the Risk and Control Self-Assessment process. At First Republic Bank, he constructed the Lending Services Internal Control and Compliance Support function from scratch.
Gallagher also spearheaded the launch of Silicon Valley Bank’s Private Bank, managing loan, deposit, card, wire, digital and core operations. That venture scaled to 1,600 clients, $1 billion in assets and $25 million in operating income within three years, all while passing regulatory exams and audits without issue.
His tenure at Wells Fargo spanned more than a decade in senior positions, including SVP and Head of Private Banking Operations, where he ran a 96-person national support center serving 105 regional offices. As SVP in the Technology and Operations Group, he built the business case for retiring a 450,000-square-foot San Francisco data center, which resulted in $19 million in annual savings.
Gallagher holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University.
“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. Paul understands our customers’ problems because he has lived them, and he will help more institutions see what truly modern risk management can look like.”
Kobalt’s Accelerating Trajectory
Gallagher arrives amid a rapid growth spurt for the company. In 2026 alone, Kobalt has been tapped by banks and credit unions such as 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.
Earlier this year, Kobalt secured $12.7 million in funding and earned a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance list. Gallagher’s appointment adds seasoned bank-operator perspective as the company expands its work with community and regional banks, credit unions and fintechs.
About Kobalt Labs
Kobalt Labs is the AI native risk and compliance platform built for financial institutions. Kobalt automates the manual work across third-party risk management, ERM, fintech partner diligence, and marketing compliance by extracting critical evidence from documentation, identifying gaps, and generating risk assessments within minutes. Used by banks, credit unions, and fintechs across the country, Kobalt delivers the consistency, speed, and audit-ready documentation that manual processes cannot match. Learn more at kobaltlabs.com.
Why it matters: Bringing in someone who has run bank operations at the highest level signals that Kobalt isn’t just selling software—it’s building trust with institutions that are famously cautious about new vendors. Gallagher’s hands-on experience could be the credibility boost the company needs to convert its growing list of clients into long-term partnerships.
Ashi Agrawal
Kobalt Labs
ashi@kobaltlabs.com
