Leadership Built on Experience. Led by Intelligence.

Brendan Tansill

Chief Executive Officer

Brendan Tansill is the Chief Executive Officer of Candescent, where he leads company strategy and growth. He is passionate about helping financial institutions create meaningful impact in their communities.

Before leading Candescent, Brendan served as President of the Digital Banking Division at NCR Voyix and previously spent seven years as President of EVO Payments, where he led the company’s expansion into more than 50 markets and its eventual $4 billion sale to Global Payments in 2023.

Brendan received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Caroline Cochran

Chief People Officer

Caroline Cochran is the Chief People Officer at Candescent, where she leads people and talent globally. Caroline drives employee engagement, talent attraction and development, aligning the company’s organizational culture with strategic business goals.  

Informed by her background in business and technology, Caroline’s approach to executing workforce management initiatives is backed by data and practically designed to help propel Candescent’s global people function forward. Caroline prioritizes instilling a culture of continuous learning, high performance, and accountability.

Caroline received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. She is deeply committed to the technology community in Georgia and serves as an Executive Board Member for the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

David Goldman

Chief Financial Officer

David Goldman is the Chief Financial Officer at Candescent, where he leads the company’s global finance organization, including accounting, financial operations, FP&A, tax, treasury, procurement, and pricing strategy. He has more than 20 years of experience in business and financial leadership roles.

Before joining Candescent, David spent seven years as EVP of Business Development and Strategy for EVO Payments, where he guided corporate strategy and executed more than 20 mergers and acquisitions across 12 countries. He also held senior roles at PointState Capital and Duquesne Capital, focusing on global investment strategies in consumer, retail, and real estate sectors.

David graduated with High Distinction with a BBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, with a concentration in Finance and Accounting.

Gareth Gaston

Chief Product Officer

Gareth Gaston is the Chief Product Officer of Candescent, where he leads product strategy and innovation across Candescent’s digital banking platform. He has over 25 years of experience driving large-scale digital transformation in financial services.

Before joining Candescent, Gareth served as Chief Product Officer, Enterprise Digital, at U.S. Bank, where he advanced the bank’s digital leadership, launching a new mobile app and voice assistant recognized as industry-leading. He later expanded digital capabilities across all business lines, building shared platforms for authentication, money movement, account opening, and open banking.

Gareth has also contributed to industry-wide innovation as Chair of the payments advisory board that launched Zelle and as a founding board member for Akoya. He holds an MBA from the TRIUM Global Executive MBA program (NYU Stern, London School of Economics, and HEC Paris) and an honorary doctorate from his undergraduate alma mater.

John Garvey

Chief Operating Officer

John Garvey is the Chief Operating Officer at Candescent, where he executes strategic priorities and strengthens operational delivery for more than 1,300 bank and credit union clients. He has over 30 years of experience leading strategy, operations, technology, and risk initiatives across global financial and technology organizations.

Before joining Candescent, John served as Global Financial Services Industry Leader at PwC, overseeing more than 60,000 professionals and $14 billion in annual revenue. He also served as COO at Instinet and CEO of Cybertrust, leading both organizations through major strategic transitions.

John earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and completed executive studies in Business Administration at City of London University.

Josh Mueller

Chief Marketing Officer

Josh Mueller is the Chief Marketing Officer at Candescent, where he leads global brand, marketing, and communications strategy. With over 20 years of experience, he has led transformation, shaped impactful customer experiences, and driven sustainable growth.

Josh and his team focus on defining Candescent’s brand, communicating its differentiated value, and driving demand across financial institutions and their customers.

Before joining Candescent, Josh was CMO and General Manager at Avaya, leading global marketing, communications, and the hardware business. He has also held senior marketing and digital leadership roles at NI (National Instruments), Vonage, and Dun & Bradstreet.

Josh holds an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a BBA from Texas A&M University.

Nathan Sloan

Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Nathan Sloan is Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at Candescent, where he leads the company’s legal and corporate governance teams. He brings more than 25 years of legal experience covering private practice, large legal teams with over 200 employees, and mid-size companies, all focusing on software. Nathan has driven rapid adoption of AI within organizations while balancing the need for legal compliance, privacy, and security.

Before joining Candescent, Nathan served as the Lead Division Counsel for two divisions of VMware and as Assistant General Counsel at Cvent. With a background as a computer engineer and IP attorney, he quickly understands emerging technologies to drive strategic value in M&A, investments, divestitures, and private equity backed companies.

Reid Downey

Chief Revenue Officer

Reid Downey is Chief Revenue Officer at Candescent, where he leads all go-to-market functions across new sales, client relationships, revenue operations, and enablement.

With a focus on measurable outcomes, he fosters a culture of high performance, accountability, and exceptional client experiences. His leadership centers on building trust-based relationships, driving simplicity at scale, and developing top talent.

Over his 30-year career in technology, Reid has held executive roles at Microsoft, SS&C Intralinks, IBM, and Inventa Technologies. He led major enterprise and cloud sales organizations at Microsoft and most recently oversaw a global $600-million revenue operation at Intralinks. He also serves on investment committees and boards at Cultivation Capital and DCV.

A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Reid is a people-first leader who values curiosity, EQ, and sustained development.

Satheesh Ravala

Chief Technology Officer

Satheesh Ravala is the Chief Technology Officer at Candescent, where he leads the company’s technology vision, platform architecture, and global engineering execution. He is driving Candescent’s platform transformation and next phase of AI-enabled innovation.

Before joining Candescent, Satheesh served as Chief Technology Officer at Diligent Corporation, the global leader in governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions. He led development of the AI-powered Diligent One platform, used by more than one million professionals worldwide, and drove early adoption of generative AI across governance and risk functions. With over 25 years in enterprise SaaS and financial technology, he has also held senior leadership roles at ICE Mortgage Technology (Ellie Mae) and Yahoo.

Satheesh is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is passionate about developer empowerment, AI innovation, and mentoring future technology leaders.

Stephanie Wheeler

SVP of Transformation

Stephanie Wheeler is the SVP of Transformation at Candescent where she focuses on improving customer experience through leading high impact company-wide transformations. She works cross-functionally with the executive leadership team and their organizations to accelerate initiatives focused on improving the customer journey. Prior to Candescent, Stephanie served as an advisor to Fortune 500 leadership teams at Bain & Company and Accenture with a focus on B2B customer experience and driving large-scale transformation. Stephanie received her Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.