Our Leadership

Frank R. Martire, founder of Bridgeport Partners, serves as chairman of the CSI Board of Directors. He is an industry veteran who has held executive and C-level positions for more than 20 years.

Frank currently serves as executive chairman of NCR Corporation, the world’s enterprise technology leader for banks, retailers and restaurants. Prior to NCR, he was executive chairman of FIS from 2015 to 2017 and president and CEO of FIS after its acquisition of Metavante from 2009 to 2015. Before its acquisition, Frank served as Metavante’s CEO and president. He has also held the roles of president and chief operating officer of Call Solutions Inc. and president and chief operating officer at Fiserv.

Frank is board chairman of Sacred Heart University, and a board member of the Baptist Health System, Inc., Jacksonville University, Cannae and the Folded Flags Foundation. He also is a member of the Leadership Foundation of the Mayo Clinic. Frank holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of New Haven and a Bachelor of Science in economics from Sacred Heart University.

David Culbertson is CSI’s president and CEO, providing strategic vision and leadership for the company. In his role, David ensures CSI delivers value to customers, and leads the strategic direction of the company’s portfolio of fintech, regtech and cybersecurity solutions. David began his CSI career in 1989. Since then, he has held numerous leadership positions, including vice president of research and business development, group president of technology services and chief operating officer.

David has served his community on various boards and currently serves on The Carson Center for The Performing Arts and Kentucky Regional Board for Mercy Health. He is also a past president of the Association for Financial Technology (AFT). David earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Virginia and is a graduate of the Wharton School Executive Education program.

Hythem T. El-Nazer is a managing director of TA Associates. He is a member of the Firm’s Executive and Core Investment Committees, as well as co-head of TA’s Technology Group. He has more than 22 years of experience working with and investing in some of the world’s leading technology companies. Since joining TA in 2004, he has sponsored more than 30 investments across North America, Europe, India and the Middle East totaling more than $40 billion in enterprise value.

Hythem has partnered with founders and management teams of enterprise software companies to accelerate organic growth and transform companies through strategic acquisitions, helping to build over a dozen multi-billion-dollar enterprise value companies. He currently serves as a board member for more than 10 organizations, including Advantive, Gamma Technologies, MRI Software, PDI Software, and Sovos. He is a graduate of Brown University and the London School of Economics and earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.

Jared Hendricks is senior managing director at Centerbridge Partners, L.P., where he focuses on investments across the Technology sector, and holds 20 years of investment experience in financial services and technology. Prior to joining Centerbridge in 2006, Jared was an associate at Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in technology and related growth companies operating at scale. Before that, he was an Investment Banking analyst within the Global Industrial and Services Group at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Jared currently serves on the boards of directors of Acoustic, L.P., IPC Corp. (and affiliated entities), Precisely and Speedcast Holdings LLC. He holds a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Jaffe is managing director for Centerbridge Partners, L.P. Ben joined Centerbridge in 2013 and currently focuses on investments in the technology sector. Prior to joining Centerbridge, he was an analyst in the Restructuring and Reorganization Group at The Blackstone Group L.P.

Ben also serves on the board of directors of Speedcast Holdings LLC. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard College.

Mike Libert is a managing director of TA Associates, where he focuses on investments in software companies in North America. Mike joined TA in 2011 and has led or co-sponsored 16 platform software investments and completed five public-to-private transactions.

With cross-border investment experience that spans the globe, Mike has originated or enabled more than 250 add-on acquisitions for portfolio companies and helped close investments totaling more than $5.6 billion of invested capital. Prior to joining TA, Mike was an associate consultant at Bain & Company and worked in corporate strategy at Nintex.

Mike serves on a dozen portfolio company boards on behalf of TA. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kristin Muhlner is CEO and co-founder of Affect Therapeutics, an organization that employs mobile technology to revolutionize addiction recovery. With more than 20 years of experience in leading high-growth technology organizations, Kristin holds a diverse background in executive management, business operations, customer experience, product strategy and revenue generation. She also is a recognized leader in enterprise software and cloud technologies, having held key leadership positions with such companies as Sprinklr, newBrandAnalytics, RollStream, webMethods, Deloitte Consulting and Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting).

Throughout her career, Kristin has provided strategic leadership in a variety of roles, including chief executive officer, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of revenue, and worked with such major brands as Hyatt, Kohl’s and McDonald’s.

Steve Powless has been an active member of CSI’s Board of Directors since 1992. During his more than 30-year career with CSI, he has held such leadership positions as vice president of corporate development, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief executive officer. Steve served as CSI’s chief executive officer from 1999 to 2021, only the second person in the company’s history to hold the title.

In addition to his leadership at CSI, Steve has served the fintech industry in various leadership roles, including as past president and director of the Association for Financial Technology (AFT). Steve earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from Murray State University where he also received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a current director and past chairman of the Baptist Health Paducah Administrative Board of Directors and serves as chair of the Lifeline Recovery Center board.

Tom Shen is a seasoned entrepreneur and banking technology board member who founded Software Dynamics Inc. in 1982, which offered a suite of banking products—including for tellers, platforms, call centers and CRMs—to more than 1,200 financial institutions worldwide, from multibillion-dollar multinationals to local community banks. Shen sold the company to publicly traded S1 Corporation in 2001, and since then has served on the executive team for Digital Insight. He also co-founded Malauzai Software Inc. in 2010, which was acquired by Finastra in 2018.

In addition to his professional experience, Tom is involved with his high school’s capital campaign to build a new STEM facility. He is board chairman at BankiFI and serves on the boards of ZSuite Technologies, Shastic, Inc., and Axiom Bank. Tom graduated summa cum laude from The Master’s University with a bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministries.

John A. Williams serves as chairman emeritus of the board. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1962, earning a Bachelor of Science, with majors in accounting and economics. John then practiced accounting and management consulting with Arthur Andersen & Co. in St. Louis. From 1963-65, as a UK ROTC graduate, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, directing development of experimental data processing systems at 7th Army Headquarters in Germany. In 1965, he served as the founding CEO in the creation of Computer Services, Inc. (CSI), headquartered in Paducah, Kentucky, becoming president in 1968 and chairman in 1979.

Over the years, John has been intensely involved with community, state and national organizations. He has served Burroughs Computer Users Group (president); Association for Financial Technology (president); Four Rivers Boy Scout Council (president); Scoutmaster, and Webelos leader; Area Six (KY/TN) Boy Scouts (president); Southeast Regional Board Boy Scouts (director); National Museum Board Boy Scouts (director); National Eagle Bound program (creator); Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce (president); Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (vice president); Federal Reserve-Louisville (chair); and Carson Four Rivers Performing Arts Center (chair). John also served as a lecturer in banking schools at UK, LSU, Nebraska, and Georgia, and as a faculty member at the Paducah Community College.

For Kentucky, John has served on several state commissions, including: Science and Technology; Economic Development; Unemployment Insurance; Career Ladder Education; Tax Reform Commission; Transition for Governor Fletcher for Finance and Revenue Cabinets; Kentuckians for Excellence in Education Task Force; Kentucky State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education; the Higher Education Study Task Force; and founding Chair of the Leadership Institute for School Principals.

John has been presented the Silver Antelope from Boy Scouts of America. Murray State University has honored John by naming its annual Telecommunications System Management Entrepreneurship Award the John A. Williams Entrepreneurship Award. He has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Murray State, and received an Honorary Doctorate in Business & Technology in 2017 for service over five decades including design input on two degree programs. John was named a Paducah Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2004, and in 2009, he received the Summit Award for leadership in education and Impact Poverty; John has also received the Technology Leadership Award as outstanding technology leader in Kentucky from the Governor. He is recognized in the Paducah Tilghman High School Hall of Fame, the UK Gatton Business School Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, and the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni. Leadership Kentucky presented John their fourteenth Flamethrower Award in 2015.

John is married to Vivian Gray Williams, and they have three sons, John, Jr., Kevin, and Brett; three daughters-in-law; eight grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

Paul is a founding partner of Bridgeport Partners and holds more than 40 years’ experience in strategy, sales, operations and technology at financial industry organizations, including FIS, Metavante, Fiserv and Citicorp.

In his prior roles, Paul has led business segments including core technology (banks and credit unions), digital banking, wealth management, business analytics, lending, enterprise risk management and consulting. He previously served as president of Trebia Acquisition Corporation, a NYSE-listed special purpose acquisition company co-sponsored by Bridgeport Partners, until its merger with System1, Inc. He also served as president and CEO of Threshold Consulting LLC, and was an independent contractor for Catalyst Consulting Group, Advent International Corporation and Motive Partners. He completed executive management studies at Columbia University and New York University.