Safe Harbor Bolsters Lending Capabilities and Client Experience with Strategic Leadership Hires

Rhea-AI Summary

Safe Harbor (NASDAQ: SHFS) announced two senior hires on Dec. 30, 2025: Stephen La Rosa as Senior Vice President, Lending Strategy and Partner Development, and Cassandra Douglass as Senior Manager, Client Experience and Onboarding. The additions aim to expand the company's lending platform, broaden capital channels (private equity, family offices, institutional partners), and scale compliant onboarding and client relationship capabilities for regulated cannabis and hemp operators.

The hires emphasize stronger lending strategy, partner development, compliance, and operational consistency across the client lifecycle.

Key Figures

Banking experience more than 20 years Stephen La Rosa’s banking background across financial institutions

Market Reality Check

$1.12 Last Close

Volume Volume 123,045 is well below 20-day average of 522,366 (rel. volume 0.24). low

Technical Shares at $1.12 are 89.37% below 52-week high of $10.534 and near the $1.08 low, trading below the $3.00 200-day MA.

Peers on Argus

While SHFS shows a -10.4% move, key regional bank peers are mixed to positive, with names like CARV and KFFB up 10.87% and 6.11%, suggesting SHFS trading is more stock-specific than sector-driven.

Historical Context

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Dec 23	Services expansion	Positive	+3.1%	Talent-led deal adding consulting assets and performance-based share consideration.
Dec 18	Policy statement	Positive	-15.2%	Commentary on federal cannabis rescheduling and platform growth opportunity.
Dec 18	Policy positioning	Positive	-15.2%	Positioning to benefit from cannabis rescheduling and SAFER Banking Act.
Dec 09	Product launch	Positive	+7.3%	Launch of Payroll Boost and major banking win with Canopy HR.
Nov 17	Platform launch	Positive	+7.3%	Debut of complete cannabis financial solutions platform across four pillars.

Pattern Detected

Recent positive strategic and product news has often led to positive moves, but cannabis policy statements saw sharp negative divergences.

Recent Company History

Over the past months, Safe Harbor announced several strategic initiatives, including a full financial solutions platform on Nov 17, 2025, a payroll cashflow product and major Canopy HR win on Dec 9, 2025, and a consulting and managed services expansion on Dec 23, 2025. These product and capability launches saw positive price reactions. By contrast, two policy-focused cannabis rescheduling statements on Dec 18, 2025 coincided with double-digit declines, indicating market sensitivity to regulatory messaging versus execution-focused news.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement emphasizes Safe Harbor’s push to strengthen lending strategy and client onboarding with experienced hires, supporting its cannabis-focused financial platform. In recent months, the company expanded into consulting services and launched new products, while regulatory filings detailed capital structure changes and banking-partner concentration. Investors may watch how these leaders impact lending growth, client acquisition, and compliance execution, alongside revenue trends, balance sheet developments, and evolving cannabis regulation.

Key Terms

private equity financial

"By expanding access to capital beyond traditional banking channels—through private equity, family"

Private equity involves investing money directly into private companies or buying out public companies to make them private, with the goal of improving their performance and increasing their value over time. For investors, it offers an opportunity to earn returns by helping companies grow or restructure, often requiring a longer-term commitment and a higher level of involvement than typical stock investments.

family offices financial

"capital beyond traditional banking channels—through private equity, family offices, and institution"

A family office is a private wealth-management firm that handles the finances, investments, taxes and estate planning for one wealthy family, acting like a household’s dedicated finance team or personal bank. They matter to investors because family offices can move large amounts of capital quietly and for the long term, become stable buyers or sellers in private deals and markets, and often back companies or funds in ways that affect valuations and access to funding.

fraud prevention technical

"Her experience spans compliance, operations, product development, fraud prevention and risk, with"

Fraud prevention is the set of policies, tools and checks an organization uses to stop dishonest schemes like false accounting, embezzlement or scams before they happen; think of it as the locks, alarms and identity checks businesses use to keep money and information safe. It matters to investors because effective fraud prevention reduces the risk of sudden financial losses, costly legal trouble and damage to a company’s reputation, all of which can hurt share value.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

New leadership appointments enhance Safe Harbor’s ability to serve regulated cannabis businesses across the full financial lifecycle

DENVER, Dec. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SHF Holdings, Inc., d/b/a Safe Harbor (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: SHFS), a fintech leader in providing banking, lending and financial services to the regulated cannabis and hemp industries, announced the addition of two key executives to its leadership team. Stephen La Rosa joins Safe Harbor as Senior Vice President, Lending Strategy and Partner Development and Cassandra Douglas as Senior Manager Client Experience and Onboarding. These hires represent a proactive investment in the people and capabilities required to support cannabis operators across their full financial lifecycle — from onboarding and compliance to capital access and long-term growth.

“Safe Harbor is evolving alongside the cannabis industry to meet the growing needs of operators,” said Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor Financial. “With the addition of leaders like Cassandra and Stephen, we’re scaling our capabilities in lockstep with our clients’ success, from daily banking to long-term capital access – reinforcing our commitment to scaling client experience and capital solutions with purpose, precision and care.”

As Senior Vice President of Lending Strategy and Partner Development, Stephen La Rosa is leading the expansion of the company's lending platform, providing solutions designed to meet the evolving capital needs of clients. With more than 20 years of banking experience across large and smaller financial institutions, his strengths include small business lending, relationship management, business development, portfolio management, credit analysis and risk management.

“Safe Harbor is uniquely positioned to redefine how cannabis operators access capital at every stage of growth,” said Stephen La Rosa. “By expanding access to capital beyond traditional banking channels—through private equity, family offices, and institutional partners—we're building a more flexible, responsive lending platform. Our goal is to meet cannabis operators where they are and provide the financial tools they need to scale, invest and compete in a rapidly evolving marketplace.”

Cassandra Douglass brings a decade of hands-on cannabis banking leadership from within regulated financial institutions, positioning Safe Harbor to scale onboarding, compliance and relationship development with greater consistency and depth as client needs grow more complex. In her role, she will support client onboarding, relationship development and the delivery of compliant cannabis banking solutions.

Prior to joining Safe Harbor, Ms. Douglass served as Vice President and Regional Manager at Herring Bank, where she ran the cannabis banking program, worked directly with cannabis banking clients, and led regional program operations. Throughout her career, she has managed onboarding teams, reviewed documentation for new banking relationships, and ensured alignment with evolving state and federal regulatory requirements. Her experience spans compliance, operations, product development, fraud prevention and risk, with deep expertise in state-specific licensing frameworks.

“I’m honored to join a company that has helped define the gold standard in cannabis banking and financial services,” said Cassandra Douglass. “Safe Harbor has a long-standing commitment to compliance, transparency and innovation and I look forward to helping scale that legacy while building meaningful relationships with cannabis businesses across the country.”

About Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor is a cannabis-exclusive financial platform delivering smarter banking, lending, payments and business services tailored to how the cannabis industry actually operates. As one of the original pioneers of compliant cannabis banking in the U.S., Safe Harbor has facilitated more than $26 billion in cannabis-related transactions across 41 states and territories. Through its proprietary Cannabis Banking Solutions™ Platform and network of regulated financial institution partners, Safe Harbor empowers cannabis operators to gain clarity, control and confidence in their financial operations. From daily banking to long-term growth, Safe Harbor provides real solutions and personal support — built exclusively for cannabis. Safe Harbor is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by our partner financial institutions. For more information, visit shfinancial.org.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain information contained in this press release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements other than statements of historical facts included herein may constitute forward-looking statements and are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to Safe Harbor’s ability to satisfy the required conditions to utilize the ELOC, market conditions that may impact Safe Harbor’s ability to access the ELOC on acceptable terms or at all, the possibility that the ELOC may not be fully utilized, expected use of proceeds from the ELOC, trends in the cannabis industry, including proposed changes in U.S and state laws, rules, regulations and guidance relating to Safe Harbor’s services; Safe Harbor’s growth prospects and Safe Harbor’s market size; Safe Harbor’s projected financial and operational performance, including relative to its competitors and historical performance; success or viability of new product and service offerings Safe Harbor may introduce in the future; the impact volatility in the capital markets, which may adversely affect the price of Safe Harbor’s securities; the outcome of any legal proceedings that have been or may be brought by or against Safe Harbor; and other statements regarding Safe Harbor’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “outlook,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would,” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in Safe Harbor’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Safe Harbor undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement made herein. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

Safe Harbor Investor Relations Contact:
ir@SHFinancial.org

Safe Harbor Media Relations Contact:
safeharbor@kcsa.com

FAQ

Who did Safe Harbor (SHFS) hire on December 30, 2025?

Safe Harbor hired Stephen La Rosa as Senior Vice President, Lending Strategy and Partner Development, and Cassandra Douglass as Senior Manager, Client Experience and Onboarding.

What will Stephen La Rosa do at Safe Harbor (SHFS)?

He will lead expansion of the lending platform and partner development, including access to private equity, family offices, and institutional partners.

How will Cassandra Douglass's role affect Safe Harbor (SHFS) clients?

She will scale client onboarding, compliance, and relationship development to deliver consistent compliant cannabis banking solutions.

Does the Safe Harbor (SHFS) announcement include financial guidance or transaction amounts?

No; the announcement details leadership hires and strategic focus but does not disclose financial metrics or transaction values.

Will Safe Harbor (SHFS) broaden capital access for cannabis operators?

Yes, the company said the hires support expanding capital access beyond traditional banking to private equity, family offices, and institutional partners.