The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

Of course, an English Literature major can make Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” In fact, Kathryn (Tison) Petralia, Furman Class of 1992, did just that. Coming in at No. 98, Petralia is cofounder and COO of Atlanta-based Kabbage, Inc. According to Forbes, Petralia is “One of the few female founders in the decidedly male-centric fintech world.” She created Kabbage to “disrupt the finance industry by offering businesses an easier way to get lines of credit … In August she raised $250 million from a subsidiary of SoftBank, bringing Kabbage’s total equity funding to $500 million,” say editors at Forbes–enough to get banks to take notice. Her husband, Mark Petralia ’91, is also a Furman alum.