By Alexandra Richter

Many of the women wanted to start small businesses, so McLeod reached out to her network to assist.

“I became aware of how difficult it can be to secure a loan, and for inclusive lenders to expand access,” says McLeod. “There is always more work than time, and I wanted to understand if this challenge was systematic across the lending industry, or if it was especially pronounced for lenders focused on inclusion.”

McLeod found that community banks, credit unions and regional banks had the same problem, so she turned her passion for inclusive access to capital into a business. Now, she is the founder and CEO of Parlay Finance, a small-business loan intelligence system, and her software makes the funding application and approval process easier.

The technology also delivers unique insights for community lenders and underserved business owners. For her work, McLeod was recently named to the Female Founders 500 by Inc. magazine.

“Small businesses employ nearly half of our country’s workforce, but are vastly underfunded,” she says. “We want to help grow the U.S. economy and measure what entrepreneurs can achieve with funding. How many employees did they hire? When their business is stable, what does that do for the rest of their community?”

Parlay Finance was an early adopter of AI, which has enabled lenders to increase small business loan volume, efficiency and profitability through its suite of AI-powered applications known as the Loan Intelligence System.

“In late 2024, our system was still relatively new for banks and credit unions. Now, people are more open to and energized by AI. They are already testing it or trying it themselves. Every bank board wants to find a way to use AI,” she says. “At the same time, using AI that can take actions independently to achieve goals has become far more practical and technologically viable, so we’re actively building those capabilities to make it easier for banks to support more small businesses.”

To build Parlay Finance, McLeod drew on lessons from both her MBA at UB and her earlier experiences as an entrepreneur and co-founder of two social impact ventures. At the School of Management, she also served as a teaching assistant for a data modeling class, developing foundational skills that continue to shape her work today.

“At UB, I learned that if you have an idea or hypothesis and you can communicate it effectively, you can do anything,” McLeod says. “The experience of presenting as a team and earning buy-in is a skill I use 10 times a day to persuade people to care about inclusive lending.”

McLeod also serves as a mentor for such programs as Village Global’s ADAPT US and George Mason University’s SOAR Initiative.

“If you think there’s a problem that could be solved, don’t let people tell you that it can’t,” she says. “Get out there, show the art of the possible, let people know that you’re serious and ask them to give you a shot.”