L. Scott Askins brings 20+ years of C-suite experience as a senior executive and board member with expertise in scaling disruptive technology companies, driving strategy to lead organic and acquisitive growth, and international expansion. She has executed 50+ strategic deals valued in aggregate at $15B+, including as a key contributor to billion- dollar exits/valuations in the FinTech, Software-as-a-Service, and Healthcare industries. She is a trusted strategic advisor to global and early- and late-stage private and public companies.
Scott is a member of the Board of Directors of CoastalSouth Bancshares Inc. (OTCQX: COSO), a bank holding company, and Coastal States Bank, its community bank subsidiary with $1.7B+ in assets. She previously served on the Board of the Innovative Lending Platform Association (ILPA), the leading trade organization representing online lending companies serving small businesses.
As a member of the senior executive leadership team at Kabbage—a privately-held FinTech company providing small businesses with access to cash flow management solutions—Scott performed a critical role in setting the company’s strategic goals and priorities. She advised the Board on strategic alternatives and negotiated its acquisition by American Express (NYSE: AXP) after co-leading equity and debt capital raises of $1.7B+. This included a $250M equity round from SoftBank Vision Fund and a $900M asset-backed securitization, both representing the largest in the small business online lending segment at that time. Scott navigated complex issues in Kabbage’s transformational pivot during the height of COVID to become the second-largest SBA Paycheck Protection Program lender by application volume, with ~$7B in applications supporting ~300K small businesses (preserving ~945K jobs) and outperforming some of the largest banks.
In more than a decade as a senior executive at Premiere Global Services (NYSE: PGI), a global leader in collaboration software, Scott took PGI full circle: from her first IPO as outside counsel, to leading strategic M&A and debt financings, to playing a critical role in brokering a ~$1B go-private deal. She led shareholder outreach efforts to PGI’s institutional base resulting in the settlement of an activist proxy contest and achievement of 95%+ support following a failed “say-on-pay” vote. Her extensive experience with PGI’s subsidiary-level boards across 25 countries in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC enhanced her international governance and risk oversight expertise.
Scott began her corporate career as an executive at WebMD, the leading provider of health information services, when she was brought in prior to the launch of webmd.com. She led the company’s IPO filing and strategic acquisitions, investments, and alliances valued in aggregate at $12.4B+ and completed in less than 1½ years, including WebMD’s merger with Healtheon (Nasdaq: HLTH), the largest internet transaction at that time.
Scott is a frequent speaker on topics such as corporate finance, governance, compliance, company culture, and inclusion and diversity. She received an Atlanta Business Chronicle “Corporate Counsel Dealmaker” award and was named to the The Legal 500 “GC Powerlist: U.S.”
Scott holds a Master of Laws in Taxation from New York University School of Law, a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Clemson University. She and her family live in Atlanta, Georgia.