Alyssa Schaefer Named General Manager and Chief Experience Officer, Kaitlin Walsh-Epstein Promoted to Chief Marketing Officer
(New York, NY – June 7, 2022) – Laurel Road, a digital platform of KeyBank with specialized offerings for healthcare and business professionals, is continuing its evolution, expanding its digital offerings for healthcare professionals, and engaging in new strategic partnerships. Under the umbrella of KeyBank, which acquired the company in 2019, Laurel Road has taken a targeted approach to healthcare audiences while holding true to its digital principles.
With KeyBank’s commitment to healthcare, Laurel Road has made additional investments in marketing, digital product development and analytics, which has led to accelerated growth, improved efficiency, and an enhanced customer experience. Laurel Road continues to see significant interest in its healthcare strategy, focusing on products tailored to physicians and dentists. The launch of Laurel Road for Doctors in 2021 provided medical professionals with an expanded set of digital offerings so that these professionals can have financial peace of mind at each career stage, while also amplifying KeyBank’s reach on a national level .
In the past few years, Laurel Road has also bolstered its digital capabilities, launching the Laurel Road Linked Checking account and mobile application, joining an existing line-up of digital products, including Student Loan Refi & Linked Savings accounts, Student Loan Cashback Credit Cards, student loan refinancing, personal lending and mortgage options. With over 7,200 mobile app downloads to date and more than 381,000 digital banking sign-ins just this year, Laurel Road is meeting its members where they are. The payoff has been strong growth with a younger client base – approximately 30% of Laurel Road’s new households are under 30.
Overseeing Laurel Road’s continued evolution, driven by comprehensive digital products and superior customer experience, is Alyssa Schaefer, General Manager and Chief Experience Officer. Upon joining Laurel Road in 2017, Alyssa rebranded the business and narrowed its focus in a competitive market, playing a key role in the acquisition by KeyBank. Filling her previous role of Chief Marketing Officer is Kaitlin Walsh-Epstein, who served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Laurel Road.
“It’s an exciting time for Laurel Road and our members. Laurel Road made a huge commitment to accelerate our growth this past year, and we reached those goals thanks to the entrepreneurial spirt and innovation mindset of our team that has allowed us to continue evolving to better serve our niche. I am proud to lead Laurel Road through the next era of growth while keeping our members at the center of everything we do. We are only at the beginning of this journey to service our members with premier banking and lending products that bring them financial peace of mind,” said Alyssa Schaefer, GM and Chief Experience Officer, Laurel Road.
Laurel Road’s commitment to refining its digital and mobile approach to best serve its target audiences is evidenced by the company’s record growth in Q1 2022. In Q1, Laurel Road reported the highest volume of student loan refinancing to date. The quarter also brought impressive growth to Laurel Road across all products, which contributed to a 148% increase in new households compared to Q1 2021. Today, Laurel Road also reaches one of every three doctors in the United States every month and its physician member base grew by a third in Q1 with a 126% increase in healthcare households added – the most substantial growth seen to date. This growth is further enhanced by Laurel Road’s strategic social media and influencer campaigns, its intuitive mobile app and working closely with members to identify their specific needs and pain points.
“As we prepare to close out Q2, we’re well-positioned to continue delivering best in class, member-first products and services, as well as enhance our user experience to meet the unique financial needs of our members,” said Kaitlin Walsh-Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Laurel Road. “As we continue to grow the business and prepare to expand our product offerings for nurses, we are leveraging our member advisors’ feedback to help us not only understand their banking needs but also inform our ongoing strategy. In doing this, we’ve become more than just a bank, but a preferred partner to many healthcare and business professionals, and our growth is reflective of that.”
Three years post-acquisition, healthcare remains a focus for both Laurel Road and KeyBank, as Laurel Road continues enhancing and expanding its product set to better serve its business and healthcare professional audiences. Laurel Road has recently made a commitment to serving nurses with its soon-to-launch Loyalty Checking, the first checking account designed with nurses in mind. With Laurel Road’s Loyalty CheckingSM, members will be able to earn monthly cash rewards and a welcome bonus by setting up qualifying direct deposits.
To learn more about Laurel Road Checking, Laurel Road for Doctors or any of its growing digital banking offerings, visit laurelroad.com.
About Laurel Road
Laurel Road is a digital banking platform and brand of KeyBank that provides tailored offerings to support the financial wellbeing of healthcare and business professionals. Laurel Road’s banking and lending solutions, including Laurel Road CheckingSM and savings accounts, Laurel Road Student Loan Cashback® Card, Student Loan Refinancing, Mortgages, Personal Loans and more, provide our members with a simplified, personalized experience that helps them better navigate their financial journey and achieve life’s goals. Additionally, Laurel Road has reimagined banking and financial management for physicians and dentists through Laurel Road for Doctors, a tailored digital experience made up of banking, insights and exclusive benefits to provide the financial help and peace of mind they need through each career stage; and soon to launch Loyalty Checking, the first checking account designed with nurses in mind. Since 2013, Laurel Road has helped thousands of professionals with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees consolidate and refinance more than $9 billion in federal and private school loans. For more information, visit https://www.laurelroad.com . Laurel Road is a brand of KeyBank National Association. All products offered by KeyBank N.A. Member FDIC. NMLS # 399797. Equal Housing Lender. © 2022 KeyCorp® All Rights Reserved. Laurel Road is a federally registered service mark of KeyCorp.
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