Moore School of Business - Moore School

Douglas K. (Doug) Freeman (MBA ’76) likes to joke that he started in banking before there was electricity. With 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, Freeman has seen many changes take place. But none is more dramatic than the current shift to online banking services. As CEO of NetBank, a leading online banking institution with $5 billion in assets, Freeman is at the leading edge of this revolution.

“Things have changed a substantial amount from when I first joined the financial services industry… banking in those days was a place you went… Fast-forward 30 years and banking for a lot of people is no longer a place you go, it’s a thing you do. I think that fundamental shift created by a new generation of technology—the Internet, broadband services—has created a climate where folks today are comfortable doing their banking without bricks and mortar, paper and people…I believe our positioning is revolutionary, not reactionary.”

Netbank’s customers are not just recent Internet-savvy college graduates, Freeman says. “Interestingly, 15 percent of our customers and our fastest-growing segment are seniors, so it’s not just limited to youngsters anymore… Survey after survey shows that 35-40 percent of Americans never go into a bank branch—today they do everything electronically, through the mail, or at an ATM. We believe those people are very ripe to go to an Internet-only bank.”

Freeman has not forgotten his education at the Moore School and is giving back to the institution that helped launch his career. He pledged $50,000 in matching funds last year to spark an infusion of new membership in the Moore School Dean’s Circle. “I generally have been honored to do whatever the school has asked me to do,” Freeman says.

Alumni Feature

Freeman's "Virtual Bank"