First Marblehead Rebrands as Cognition Financial and Announces Relocation of Corporate Headquarters

BOSTON, May 04, 2017 -- The First Marblehead Corporation today announced that it has changed its name to Cognition Financial Corporation. First Marblehead, which was founded in 1991 to help lenders and schools create more innovative and affordable education loan products, became a private company in August 2016 after having spent 13 years as a publicly traded firm on the New York Stock Exchange.

"In our third decade of business, the business model of the company has changed dramatically. We’re no longer just a student loan company,” said Daniel Meyers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Tuition Management Systems (TMS), our payments subsidiary, has transacted more than $50 billion in education payments for private K-12 schools, colleges and universities. We intend to keep innovating and growing our lending and payments businesses. Adopting our new corporate name, Cognition Financial, is in the spirit of that push towards the future.”

The company also announced its move back into Boston. Cognition Financial’s new headquarters are located at 200 Clarendon Street. Tuition Management Systems continues to operate out of its Warwick, Rhode Island office under its current name.

About Cognition Financial

Cognition Financial helps students finance their education through products and services offered directly to students and with national and regional financial institution partners. For more information, please see www.cognitionfinancial.com. Cognition Financial supports responsible lending and is a strong proponent of the smart borrowing principles, which encourage students to access scholarships, grants and federally-guaranteed loans before considering private education loans; please see www.SmartBorrowing.org. Cognition Financial also offers outsourced tuition planning, billing, payment technology services and refund management services to educational institutions through its subsidiary Tuition Management Systems LLC. For more information, please see www.afford.com.

Contact:
Raymond Morel
EVP & Chief Financial Officer 
Cognition Financial Corporation
200 Clarendon Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02116
617.638.2065