Ya Gao

Credit Risk Expert

Role
AVP Portfolio Management - Marketing at Merrick Bank
Location
Wilmington, DE, US
LinkedIn followers
500 followers

About Ya Gao

I am a credit risk professional with a data science background. I am passionate about the power and beauty that machine learning models bring and the stories the models tell from large amounts of data. They tell you customers’ risk, their spending behaviour and beyond. Thanks to the consulting work I had earlier in my career, I’ve been exposed to various projects that involved almost all phases of credit lending works, from account acquisitions, customer risk management to collection/recoveries. The clients I worked with ranged from top 10 US banks, regional banks to cutting- edge Fin-techs. Now I am working in a fast-growing fin-tech company that provides credit access to under-served Americans. My main focus is to build advanced machine learning models that utilize alternative data on top of traditional bureau to manage customer credit risk.

Experience

  1. AVP Portfolio Management - Marketing

    Merrick Bank

    Sep 2025 — Present

    Led the end-to-end Ally to Ollo rebrand experience, driving strong performance across key metrics including digital engagement, credit risk, card usage, and fraud prevention to ensure a healthy and sustainable portfolio.Oversee all product terms and fee structures to ensure optimized offerings tailored to different customer segments and product strategies.

Education

  • Columbia University

    Master of Science (M.S.), Industrial Engineering

    2014 — 2015

  • University of California, Berkeley

    summer session, Marketing

    2013 — 2013

  • Zhejiang University

    Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering

    2010 — 2014

Skills

  • Analytics
  • Organization
  • Photoshop
  • Statistics
  • Powerpoint
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Management
  • Microsoft Office
  • Teaching
  • Credit Risk
  • Logistics
  • Public Speaking
  • Belly Dance
  • C++ Language
  • Financial Modeling
  • Problem Solving
  • Operations Management
  • C++
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Customer Service
  • Research
  • Data Analysis
  • R
  • Matlab
  • Critical Thinking
  • English
  • Microsoft Word
  • Sales Management

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Ya Gao — AVP Portfolio Management - Marketing at Merrick Bank in Wilmington, DE, US | Unifers