Hal Erskine
Erskine Financial Services (EFS) was created in 2014 by Hal Erskine, the founder and CEO of PartnersFirst, a credit card company that was widely praised by the media (Business Week) and industry analysts for its commitment to keeping rates steady, eliminating fees, and rigorously evaluating the risk of potential customers. Hal managed the company from start-up through the sale of the portfolio and assets to First National Bank of Omaha in late 2013 and stayed to lead the portfolio conversion process through its completion in June 2014.
Hal founded PartnersFirst shortly after leaving Bank of America Card Services, which had acquired MBNA America in early 2006. He served as a franchise sales executive for Bank of America, leading the call-center cross-selling efforts for the world’s largest credit-card issuer. In this role, he developed the business plan and managed a team responsible for working with BAC Deposit Call Centers to sell a pre-approved credit card to the bank’s 30MM deposit customers — a relationship-deepening strategy that was a key reason for Bank of America’s acquisition of MBNA.
At MBNA, Hal was a member of the bank’s Management Committee and held a variety of progressively more senior positions, including Sales Director, Director of Marketing, Director of Administration (Personnel, Law, and Facilities), Sector Director for the Sports, Co-Brand, and Professional market sectors, and Director of both Quality Assurance and Strategic Planning.
Hal came to MBNA from DuPont Pharmaceuticals where he had a successful sales career, tripling sales to $90MM+ between 1990 and 1992. He was also DuPont Pharmaceuticals’ Total Quality Director, reporting directly to the CEO, and was responsible for developing the company’s Malcolm Baldrige Award measures and program.
A graduate of Clemson University with a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Hal has four children and lives in Wilmington, DE.
He serves on the boards of the YMCA of Delaware and Junior Achievement of Delaware, on the Vestry of Christ Church Christiana Hundred, as well as the board of trustees for the Christ Church Episcopal Preschool. He has received leadership and lifetime achievement awards from Junior Achievement, MBNA, United Way of Delaware, Boy Scouts of Delaware, American Cancer Society, DuPont Merck, and DuPont Pharma.
2022 Research Analysts/Interns
Each year, Hal hires interns from some of the nation’s top universities and offers them the opportunity to learn about the credit-card business and provide support in the areas of marketing, technology, sales, database development and management, and finance and accounting.
Kylie Nocket leads the EFS research analyst team. She is a student at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, majoring in magazine, news, and digital journalism. She is also supporting website and social media communications for EFS.
- Harry Anderson (University of Delaware)
- Valerie Cradler (Temple University)
- Peter Erskine (Clemson University)
- Sam Gise (University of Richmond)
- Michael Keehan (University of Pennsylvania)
- Lance Ralston (Clemson University)
- Nate Rashkind (University of Pennsylvania)
- Sully Williams (University of South Carolina)