Aqua Finance Names Michelle Gill as Chief Executive Officer

WAUSAU, Wis., Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aqua Finance (“Aqua” or the “Company”), a fast-growing consumer lending platform within Apollo’s origination ecosystem, announced the appointment of Michelle Gill as Chief Executive Officer. Gill joins Aqua Finance from PayPal, where she served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Small Business and Financial Services.

Gill brings deep expertise in specialty lending and a track record of building and scaling consumer lending platforms. Prior to PayPal, she served as CFO and then EVP of Consumer Lending and Capital Markets at SoFi. She previously spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, where she was most recently a Partner co-leading the Structured Finance business.  

Gill succeeds Kurt Grossheim, who is retiring after leading Aqua as CEO for the past three and a half years. Grossheim will remain with Aqua as a member of the Board of Directors and as a Senior Advisor to support the transition.

“Michelle is a highly accomplished Financial Services and FinTech leader with a track record of building strong consumer finance businesses,” said Ephraim Rudman, Partner at Apollo and Aqua Board Member. “With her deep industry experience across specialty lending, Michelle will be well positioned to accelerate adoption of new technology and guide Aqua’s next phase of growth. Kurt has helped establish a strong foundation for Aqua as a leading point-of-sale financing platform, and we are looking forward to working with Michelle as we continue to expand and scale the business.”

“Aqua has built deep relationships with its dealer and merchant partners over the past 35 years,” said Michelle Gill, incoming CEO of Aqua Finance. “I look forward to working with Kurt, the Board and the entire Aqua and Apollo teams to build on that strong foundation as we continue to expand the financing solutions we offer.”

“It has been a privilege to lead Aqua alongside such a talented team, and I am proud of what we have built together,” said Kurt Grossheim, outgoing CEO of Aqua Finance. “Michelle is an outstanding leader with deep experience in consumer lending and technology, and I am confident she is the right person to guide Aqua into its next chapter. I look forward to supporting her and the team through the transition.”

About Aqua Finance
Aqua Finance is a leading point-of-sale consumer finance platform that originates and services home improvement, in-home water treatment, pool and recreational vehicle loans across the credit spectrum. The Company has built strong and growing merchant relationships over 40 years, with a national network of 6,000+ dealer relationships. To learn more, please visit www.aquafinance.com.

Aqua Finance Contact
Kimberly Field
Chief Legal Officer, Aqua Finance
kfield@aquafinance.com

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