Bio

Dennis Alter has served as CEO & Chairman of the Board of Advanta since 1971. Mr Alter began his career in education. He taught English in the Philadelphia Public School System from 1966 to 1969, during which time he completed coursework for a Master's degree at Temple. In 1969, Mr Alter joined the family business, founded by his father who was also a teacher. Then called TSO Financial, the company provided loans to teachers, a group which at that time generally had difficulty obtaining loans from banks. In 1982, Mr Alter led TSO through the acquisition of Colonial National Bank, through which it began marketing credit cards nationwide to the general public. The company went public in 1985, changed its name to Advanta in 1988, and broadened its focus to include mortgages and the credit needs of the small business market. It became the sixth largest issuer of consumer credit cards in the country. From 1998-2000, Advanta monetized and distributed to shareholders the value that had been created in these businesses, in order to focus on one product to one market. Dennis is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Temple University.