Industry veterans Ram Nagappan, Tom Sholes, and David Hopkins joining the SixThirty team as Advisors and Investors.
At SixThirty, we often talk about the village that makes our platform possible—the founders who trust us, the LPs who engage deeply, and the network of operators who choose to lean in alongside us. Our model works because it is built on participation, not passivity. Executives who have skin in the game and share in our success.
Today, we’re excited to share an important extension of that village: Ram Nagappan, Tom Sholes, and David Hopkins, former executives at BNY Pershing, are joining SixThirty as Venture Partners in our Fund.
Ram, Tom, and David gained first-hand experience working with SixThirty during their tenure at BNY Pershing. Their renewed involvement reflects something we believe strongly: the future of financial services & insurance will not be shaped by capital and technology alone, but by trusted operators working shoulder-to-shoulder with investors, founders, and institutions to identify the most compelling ideas and to de-risk execution.
Strategic Advisors. Actively Engaged.
In a rapidly changing financial services landscape, Ram, Tom, and David bring not only decades of leadership across wealth management, asset management, and asset servicing, but also a broad field of vision to identify the best ideas at the convergence of wealth, health, and financial infrastructure, a collision only accelerated by tokenization and personalization.
But, most importantly, they are choosing to engage with SixThirty in the way that defines our platform. As Venture Partners, they will be active across four critical areas:
- Advisors to the Fund, helping us sharpen and extend our investment thesis around the future of wealth management and asset servicing
- Partners to our LPs, interfacing directly with relevant limited partners on technology and innovation strategy
- Contributors to deal diligence, bringing hard-earned operating perspective to how we evaluate founders and platforms
- Amplifiers of thought leadership, strengthening SixThirty’s voice and relevance across the wealth, asset servicing, and fintech ecosystem
This level of engagement, where experienced leaders invest time, insight, and relationships —in addition to capital—is central to how SixThirty creates both financial and strategic returns.
Meet Our New Venture Partners
Ram Nagappan is a visionary technology leader and serial entrepreneur who has helped architect modern financial services infrastructure for nearly four decades. From pioneering the first online brokerage platform at DLJdirect to building industry-defining wealth management, clearing, settlement, and custody platforms as CIO of BNY Mellon Pershing, Ram has consistently operated at the frontier of innovation. Today, he advises, invests in, and incubates fintech and wealthtech companies, and is a recognized thought leader across the industry.
Tom Sholes brings more than 30 years of experience in financial services, including senior leadership roles at BNY Mellon | Pershing, where he served on the Executive Committee as Chief Strategy Officer, Head of Global Strategy and Product Management, and President and Chairman of Lockwood Advisors. Prior to Pershing, Tom was an executive at PNC Global Investment Services, where he launched and led the Financial Advisor Services division. Currently, he serves as a board member and advisor to investment management and wealthtech companies..
David Hopkins is a financial services veteran with more than 30 years of experience across clearing and custody, wealth management, and banking. Most recently, he served as CEO of FNZ’s start-up U.S. clearing and custody business. Previously, David spent many years at BNY Pershing, including a decade as Global CFO, and held senior roles at Wachovia and Wells Fargo. He began his career in public accounting with Price Waterhouse serving large financial services clients.
Validation of a Differentiated Model
At our 2025 CEO Summit, a consistent theme emerged: enduring companies are built when capital, operators, and institutions align around bold, category-creating, and transformative ideas rather than short-term optimization.
As Atul Kamra, Managing Partner of SixThirty, reflected:
“SixThirty has always been about building alongside people who have lived the problems our founders are solving. Ram, Tom, and David have each spent decades building and operating the platforms that underpin wealth management and asset servicing today. Their decision to invest and actively engage—with our team, our LPs, and our portfolio—validates both our thesis and our approach. We’re incredibly excited to welcome them into the SixThirty family.”
Looking Ahead
SixThirty’s platform continues to evolve through the people who choose to build with us. The addition of Ram, Tom, and David strengthens our ability to support founders, partner with LPs, and remain at the center of the conversation shaping the future of financial services.
We’re grateful for their partnership—and excited for what we’ll build together.
