Ashley D. Bell is a Georgia-based attorney and political adviser who founded and currently serves as CEO of Ready Life, a fintech startup revolutionizing the homebuying experience for Black Americans by removing the use of credit scores. He also helms the Black-led investor group preparing to acquire the Utah-based, nonminority-owned Holladay Bank & Trust, a first-of-its-kind transaction that will create Redemption Bank, pending regulatory approval.
Ashley’s legal expertise spans public policy, business and banking, and he is the former White House Policy Advisor for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the office of American Innovation. In 2018, Ashley was tapped to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Southeast Region. He also co-founded the National Black Bank Foundation alongside frequent collaborator Bernice King, daughter of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and serves as founder and executive director of the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, a national organization dedicated to criminal justice reform.
Ashley founded his law firm, Bell & Washington in 2005, and was recognized as one of America’s top 40 attorneys under 40 by the American Bar Association. He later served as a partner focused on public policy, business and banking at Dentons.
Ashley D. Bell and Bernice A. King, respectively the CEO and advisory council chair of Ready Life, are teaming up to help folks with poor credit buy a home by using rent payment history for mortgage underwriting.
Ready Life founder & CEO Ashley D. Bell announced the creation Ready Entertainment, a new production company dedicated to creating movies and TV shows with strong social justice messages. Bell …
Black banks have been in decline for years. The investors involved in the purchase of Holladay Bank and Trust say they are on a mission to reverse that trend.