Leslie Parrish was one of the founding employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Her initial role at the Bureau entailed engaging with small-dollar and other non-prime lenders and helping to develop the bureau’s strategy and policies related to small-dollar loans offered by banks, nonbanks, and fintech firms. Today, Leslie is Deputy Assistant Director of the Consumer Credit, Payments and Deposits Markets office, where she leads teams focused on emerging payments, deposits, open banking, and student lending.

Prior to her current role at CFPB, Leslie was a strategic advisor in Datos Insights’ Retail Banking practice, where she conducted research and advised clients on consumer lending issues. Her areas of expertise there included alternative credit data, AI/ML use cases across the consumer lending lifecycle, third-party debt collection, and technology platforms for loan origination.
In addition to her work at CFPB and Datos Insights, Leslie spent over 10 years working on public policy issues related to financial services, financial inclusion, and consumer protection. Through this work, she developed expertise in a number of financial products and services, including deposit accounts, unsecured loans marketed to non-prime consumers, and debt relief services.