Arkadi Kuhlmann (born October 27, 1946) is a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, businessman, speaker, author, and artist. He is best known as a banking entrepreneur, having served as CEO of both ING Direct Canada and ING Direct USA. In July 2012, Arkadi founded his sixth banking startup, ZenBanx, and was serving as its CEO before selling the business to SoFi in February 2017. Kuhlmann received an Honors B.A. in business administration along with an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. In 2010, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the University of Western Ontario for his contributions to the world of business strategy. Career Kuhlmann began his career as a business professor shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario. He soon gravitated to banking as an assistant director of the Institute of Canadian Bankers, and as a consultant for the banking industry. Between 1977-1984, Kuhlmann served as manager, assistant general manager, and then Vice President of Royal Bank of Canada in its corporate cash management and commercial banking marketing divisions. Kuhlmann served as president and CEO at Deak & Co. and Deak International from 1985-1993. Deak & Co. provided merchant and investment banking services. Deak International provided foreign exchange and precious metals trading and refining services. Kuhlmann reorganized Deak International's operations, re-launching the company in April 1986, expanding the company from 52 to 192 branches worldwide, and from 350 to 1,500 employees; achieving revenues of $1B wholesale and $2.5B retail, with an income of $70M. Kuhlmann oversaw the successful divestiture of Deak International in 1990. Following the divestiture of Deak International to North American Life, Kuhlmann served as president of North American Trust until 1996. Kuhlmann founded ING Direct Canada in 1996. He created the brand strategy, recruited the senior leadership team, and grew the bank from 1996 to 2000 serving as the bank's president and CEO. He then repeated this process in 2000, when he founded ING Direct USA and led its growth to become the largest savings bank and number one direct bank in the United States, with more than $90B in deposits and 7.8M customers. He instituted an annual vote where he asked his staff to "re-elect" him as CEO. He went on to write his book titled, Rock Then Roll: The Secrets of Culture Driven Leadership, to better understand how culture plays a driving force in modern corporations. In late