Synchrony Ventures
Investing in the future of financial services, commerce and healthcare

Kelly Shaw is the current head of Synchrony Ventures, backing entrepreneurs and technologies that enable Synchrony to drive innovation and an enhanced customer experience. Prior to Synchrony, Kelly was a Partner at Vestigo Ventures, leading and managing early-stage investments across Fintech and Insurtech. Kelly’s entrepreneurial experience, as a co-founder of AlmaPact (now operating as Clasp), which aims to improve student access to education, lends a firsthand understanding of the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs face.
Kelly began her career in Venture Capital as a member of the Synchrony Corporate Development team. Prior to Synchrony, Kelly contributed to major strategic decisions at GE Capital, serving as part of a handpicked M&A team responsible for determining if GE should divest the bulk of GE Capital, and subsequently working on the successful sale of $40B of divestitures of Commercial Lending and Leasing Assets. Her early career has spanned roles in Financial Services in both Europe and the United States following her completion of GE’s Financial Management Program.
Kelly holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the College of the Holy Cross, majoring in Economics and Spanish. A washed-up track athlete, Kelly can often be found running (much more slowly) along the Charles River.

Josh joined the team in 2019 after spending four years leading all aspects of transactional work at American Family Ventures. At Synchrony, he focuses on consumer and enterprise companies innovating in markets served by Synchrony’s home, auto and health & wellness businesses. Josh worked in health tech before studying human-computer interaction and finance at the University of Michigan. He has profound respect and empathy for founders resulting from his own attempts to start up. Josh loves spending time with his wife, daughter and bulldog mix “Hashbrown,” and never tires watching or talking about baseball.

Ajay Patel is an investor at Synchrony Ventures based in New York. He joined the team in 2022 after spending time at Verizon Ventures, in corporate M&A, and consulting. At Synchrony, Ajay is focused on software solutions that enable frictionless banking across the infrastructure, opportunities that enhance digital businesses such as next generation rewards programs, and emerging blockchain infrastructure that may enhance existing banking solutions or facilitate Web 3.0. Ajay is a graduate of Rutgers Business School with a B.S. in Finance.

Outside of work, he spends time with his wife and son hiking trails year round. When he isn’t chasing his son around and memorizing the Disney Cars universe character names, he is seed investing in the garden or almost completing home renovations. He also has a huge passion for cars, and lives the mantra “the answer is always Miata”.