About Me

For the first 23 years of my life I never got on a plane.

I grew up in Akron, Ohio. The Rust Belt. Same hospital as LeBron James, though that's where the basketball comparisons end. My dad was a Computer Science professor. I went to college at Malone University in Canton, twenty minutes down the road from where I started. I didn't really know what was out there.

Then it changed fast. My first flight was to California to tour the Google offices. I came back wired. My second was to Mexico, to visit an orphanage on behalf of what would eventually become FinMango. It wasn't a registered nonprofit yet. Just an idea and a gut feeling that financial health mattered more than people realized.

Those trips cracked something open. I grew up in a bubble, and once I finally got out of it I went a little crazy in the best possible way. Thirty-nine countries so far. The goal is all of them.

FinMango is the hunch that stuck. I'm the Founder and Executive Director, and we build financial health infrastructure for young adults and vulnerable communities. It's my life's work. Along the way I helped build the COVID-19 Open Data Project with Google Health, which became the most comprehensive open COVID dataset available. I've spoken on TEDx stages in Togo and Brazil. My work has been recognized by the World Bank. I have a Master's in Financial Economics from Kent State and did Executive Education at the Harvard Kennedy School on rethinking financial inclusion. The long version of all of this lives in my CV.

I also co-founded Fresho, an AI startup doing personalized advertising without third-party cookies.

When I'm not building things I'm on a tennis court. I picked up a racquet as a kid after watching James Blake play Andre Agassi in the US Open quarterfinals and never put it down. I played in college and still play a few times a week. No other sport teaches you more about resilience, responsibility, and just doing the thing instead of thinking about it. I document the obsession as @ScottPlaysTennis on YouTube and Instagram.

I split my time between the United States and Australia. Reach me at scott@finmango.org with comments, questions, or interesting ideas.