Tamarack Technology, Inc., a provider of independent software solutions in the equipment finance and commercial lending industry, has elevated Scott Nelson, PhD as President. In addition to his duties as Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Nelson will be responsible for the company’s vision and strategic planning as well as business operations. Tamarack founder Daniel Nelson will continue to serve as the company’s CEO and Board of Directors Chairman.
In his dual role as President and CDO, Nelson will focus on the company’s efforts to expand its impact on the industry through innovation with new system level products, design thinking and the application of new digital technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Since Scott joined Tamarack, we have gone through a transformation,” said Daniel Nelson, Tamarack founder and CEO. “We’re still committed to creating and implementing solutions that enable lessors to realize greater value from their operations. But under Scott’s direction, we now have more tools and experience necessary to lead clients through their digitization journey to further drive value and efficiency through automation.”
Since joining Tamarack as CDO in 2020, Scott Nelson has led efforts to refocus the business strategy around investment in digital technologies to provide greater value across the equipment finance industry. This included the expansion of the company’s infrastructure, technology offering and strategic partnerships with companies such as Solifi (formerly IDS) and Leasepath. This year, the company launched Tamarack.ai, a business intelligence and productivity platform that applies machine learning and AI to continuously and autonomously help institutions increase productivity while reducing capital risk through analysis and learning gained from operational data.
“Traditionally, the equipment finance industry has been slow to bring on technology but that is changing,” said Scott Nelson. “With so much dark data hidden within an organization, it is a time when technology presents tremendous opportunities for growth and transformation. In my new role, I will be focused on marrying and delivering Tamarack’s legacy of customer service with the potential that technology presents for our customers and the industry.”
Nelson joined Tamarack with more than 30 years of product development, product management and entrepreneurial business growth experience as a technology and business leader. Prior to Tamarack, he served as the Chief Product Officer and Vice President of Product at Digi International, a leading global provider of business and mission-critical IoT products and services. In his role, he defined the business strategy to drive growth by working closely with customers and marketing to understand needs and trends.
After beginning his career at Honeywell in the Corporate R&D center, he spent 15 years at Logic PD as CTO and EVP helping hundreds of companies with business strategy and new product introductions while growing the company into one of the most well-known and largest design and engineering service organizations in the country. Nelson was named a Titan of Technology by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal in 2015.
Nelson currently serves on the Board of Faribault Minn.-based Reliance Bank and is an advisor to South Dakota-based First National Bank of Sioux Falls. Additionally, he advises numerous technology start-up companies and has been a mentor with Silicon Valley’s Alchemist Accelerator since 2014.
A doctoral graduate of Cornell University, Nelson is a sought-after speaker and contributor on topics related to innovation, design thinking and digital transformation. His writings have appeared in Harvard Business Review, CIO Magazine, IoT World as well as numerous equipment finance industry media outlets.
See Nelson’s current article, “Prediction – The Next Stage in Equipment Finance Automation,” on Equipment Finance Advisor.