Alexa von Tobel, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Alexa feels passionately about making personal finance education fun and accessible to everyone. The concept of LearnVest came to Alexa when she realized that she was graduating from Harvard College without ever having taken a single class on the topic of personal finance.
Upon graduation, she worked as a trader at Morgan Stanley in the New York Global Proprietary Credit Group. After that, Alexa went on to become the Head of Business Development at Drop.io, a technology-focused start-up backed by RRE ventures and DFJ Gotham Ventures.
Alexa received an A.B. in Psychology with Honors with a citation in Romance Languages and Literature at Harvard College. She was awarded Magna Cum Laude Plus for Harvard’s first ever senior thesis on Bhutan. In the fall of 2008, Alexa enrolled in Harvard Business School. When LearnVest received national recognition and was selected as an Astia 2008-2009 company, she took a leave of absence from Harvard Business School in order to launch LearnVest.
In addition to LearnVest, Alexa is the co-founder of L.W.A.L.A. (www.lwala.org) a 501c3 focused on fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa.
John Gardner, Chief Operating Officer
John has spent his career working for companies on the forefront of investment management and advisory solutions. He began his career at SEI Investments, a pioneer in Manager of Manager fund strategies, as an Equity Analyst and later as a Director of Product within the firm’s Wealth Network. From SEI Investments, he was a Director of Product Strategy at Finaplex, Inc., a venture-backed enterprise wealth management software provider that helped large financial institutions consolidate data and provide a single advisory desktop for wealth management advisors. Most recently, John was a founding partner and Chief Operating Officer of Cabezon Capital Management, LLC. , a San Francisco-based hedge fund that employs a global macro strategy concentrated in emerging market investing.
John went to Lehigh University where he double-majored in Finance and Marketing with a minor in Philosophy. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Todd Ostrow, Director of Business Development
Todd is a former investment banker and venture capitalist.
Todd earned a degree from Harvard College in History, with a focus on colonial America. After Harvard, Todd joined Summit Partners, where he worked with growth-stage companies primarily in the software, e-commerce and financial services sectors. He was also responsible for sourcing, valuating and executing venture capital and private equity investments ranging in size from $5 million to $500 million. Most recently, Todd worked in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications group at Lazard Frères, advising clients in the Software and Telecommunications sectors.
In addition, Todd is an active mentor at CitySquash, a Bronx-based youth enrichment program combining squash, academics, and community service.
Kevin Van Lenten, VP of Sales
Kevin joins LearnVest as our VP of Sales. Prior to LearnVest Kevin was VP of Sales for FiLife – an IAC/Dow Jones joint venture. Working on advertising and lead generation campaigns for big financial institutions and lifestyle brands. Kevin’s clients included HSBC, ING, CitiBank, AMEX, Monster.com, TIAA-CREF and Discover Financial to name a few. Prior to FiLife, Kevin was VP of Sales for lead generation marketplace Exchangeplace. Growing sales to $11 Million annually while helping to implement lead qualification processes and call center operations. Clients included Liberty Mutual, Prudential, State Farm, Abbott Medical and Liberty Medical. Kevin has also held senior sales roles with Blue Lithium and Conducive Corp. Kevin lives in North Jersey with his wife, daughter and English bulldog. Kevin is a graduate of Muhlenberg College in PA.
Allison Fast, Director of Sales & Marketing
Allison is an active member of Advertising Women of New York, serving on the organization’s Young Executive Committee. She received an A.B. in Art and Architecture from Harvard College in 2006. While at Harvard, she played on the varsity squash team, working her way up to the role of captain during her senior year. After Harvard, she spent three years on the Emerging Markets Institutional Equity Sales Trading Desk at Morgan Stanley. She assumed primary coverage of twenty institutional accounts, requiring specialist emerging markets expertise. Her clients included domestic and international mutual funds, hedge funds, and pension funds. She is also an active member of City Squash Program, a New York non-profit that combines academics, the sport of squash, and community service.
Debbie Wissel, Director of Product Strategy & Development
Debbie joined the LearnVest team after graduating from The Wharton School, where she received her MBA in Strategic Management. Prior to Wharton, Debbie was Manager of Business Development at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, an investment research firm that quantifies the environmental and social impact of client portfolios, while retaining a focus on shareholder return. Debbie has also worked for ACCION New York, a microfinance organization, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Debbie’s goal at LearnVest is to design and deliver products that make organizing your personal finances easy and fun! Among other things, she leads LV Labs, a customer discovery and feedback forum. Interested in sharing your feedback? Please send Debbie an e-mail.
An avid world traveler, Debbie lives in New York City with her husband. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College.
Tiffany Cowley, Creative Director & Project Manager
Tiffany is creative director and project manager for LearnVest. She founded Nonfiltered, a web design and branding firm in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with Jon. In five years of growing her own business, she has worked in numerous industries strategizing product development and taking the lead on project management.
She studied Photography and Art History at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Hrishi Dixit, Chief Technology Officer
Hrishi is a seasoned technologist who has lived in the computational and enterprise software space for over 15 years, and deployed large-scale enterprise applications in several domain spaces spanning finance, retail, geo-analytics and e-commerce, with specific focus on financial systems and wealth management. Prior to joining LearnVest, he was a principal and co-founder of Gordian Labs, a software consulting and product development firm specializing in finance and startup industries. He also served as senior technical architect and development manager at Finaplex, Inc., a wealth management startup in San Francisco. where he was responsible for deployments of the Finaplex Wealth platform at major financial institutions.
Hrishi holds a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science from Cornell University, and lives in Manhattan with his wife.
Dennis Chen, Director of Engineering
Dennis brings over 12 years of experience in enterprise software architecture and development management to LearnVest. Prior to joining LearnVest, he was an engineering manager and applications architect for large scale enterprise application implementations at companies including Razorfish, Conde Nast, The New York Times, Aegon, and the City of New York. He has led successful implementations in domains including wealth management, retirement planning, publishing, major league sports, and public sector. His areas of focus include social networking applications, SOA and Web Services, content management, cloud computing, software project estimation and planning, and building and managing distributed software development teams.
Dennis holds a bachelors degree in Computer Science and Biological Sciences from the University of Maryland. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and son.
Jon Cowley, Head Designer & Art Director
Jon is an art director and web designer based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Directly out of college he forged out on his own to start a web and branding firm with his business partner (and now wife), Tiffany.
Jon doubled-majored in graphic design and advertising at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Studying directly under fine artist Andrew Castrucci, he learned that even the most commercial of the visual arts has the potential to rival any other art form.
Caroline Waxler, Chief Content Officer
Caroline is a veteran content strategist and writer for online, print, and television. She’s written hundreds of articles for the country’s top publications including: Forbes, Fortune, Financial Times, Glamour, TheStreet.com, and The New York Times.
Caroline earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Classical Studies, with a concentration in Latin. After Penn, Caroline became the youngest stock market columnist ever for Forbes and her picks consistently outperformed the S&P. She is the author of numerous books including “Stocking Up On Sin: How To Crush The Market With Vice-Based Investing” (Wiley), which Barron’s chose as one of the best books of the year. She was also a contributor to the bestselling “Too Good to be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff” (Penguin). She launched MainStreet in 2007, a personal finance site for TheStreet.com, which was nominated for the Best Business Blog Webby award after only two months.
In addition, Caroline is on the board of directors of the Penn Club of New York, a member The Trustees Council of Penn Women, the co-founder of the New York chapter of London entrepreneurs’ salon The Glasshouse, and is a member of Women In Digital Media. She helps produce the annual Vendy Awards, which raises money and awareness for NYC street vendors.
Allison Kade, Content Associate
Prior to joining LearnVest as a Content Associate, Allison worked at a financial recruiting firm doing research and development. She is a seasoned freelance writer and the former Columns Editor at GreenAndSave.com, an environmental news website. Her past ventures include numerous freelance writing positions, teaching an online creative writing course for high school students, and founding an international young adults’ creative writing community that provided advice and support for young writers for over a decade.
Originally from Miami, Allison moved to New York to attend Columbia University, where she studied East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Lauren Lyons Cole, CFP®
Lauren studied financial planning at New York University and passed the Certified Financial Planner exam in 2008, but has been creating detailed financial plans for her friends for years—since she was an undergrad at the University of Florida. Before pursuing financial planning as a career, Lauren was Director of Marketing and Development at the Likeable Lawyer, a start-up focused on making continuing legal education more fun. She is a Teach for America alum, and still spends time in the classroom teaching financial literacy with the non-profit Junior Achievement. She believes money can be made simple, and enjoys helping people achieve their dreams through thoughtful financial planning.
Lauren uses her discretionary income to travel, having been to all 7 continents. She went bungee jumping in New Zealand, but only because she had a 50% off coupon.
LV Contributors
Tiffany J. Davis
Tiffany is a writer, stylist, taster, traveler, and TV lifestyle expert. She has written, reviewed, and blogged for Pink, Glamour, Allure, Brides.com, Jetsetter.com, and DailyCandy, and appeared as an on-air contributor on CNN, ABC, and TBS Movie and a Makeover.
Alina Dizik
Alina is a New York City-based freelance journalist. She has written for the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Ladies’ Home Journal, and iVillage.
Lauren Fairbanks
Lauren is a Brooklyn-based writer hailing originally from that far away land known as the Deep South. She has covered lifestyle, personal finance and career topics for Young Money, Wise Bread, AOL and Eating Well Magazine, among others. She’s also the Founder and Editor of LifeStyler, a NYC guide to living on a budget.
Eileen Gunn
Eileen is a veteran journalist who has written about the personal side of business for The New York Times, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Best Life, Self, Glamour, Working Mother and many other publications. She wrote a column on being an eco-conscious consumer for TheStreet.com. Her first book was Your Career is An Extreme Sport (Adams Media).
Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie is a San Diego-based freelance writer, with more than two decades of journalism experience. Most recently, she covered the financial industry for the American Banker.
Lisa Lacy
Lisa is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, GoodHousekeeping.com, MarthaStewart.com, the Luxury Spot, ClickZ, Dow Jones Newswires, and The Wall Street Journal.
Meredith Lepore
Meredith is a financial reporter, pop culture blogger and aspiring novelist. She received her Bachelors degree in Brain and Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester and her Masters in print and online journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications. For the last three years she has resided on the Upper East Side in New York City.
Andrea Morabito
Andrea is a New York City-based editor and freelance writer. She has written for BusinessInsider.com, RecessionWire.com, and Hour Detroit magazine.
Nana-Adwoa Ofori
Nana-Adwoa is a writer, designer, and stylist. She holds a B.A from Smith College in addition to studying fashion at Parsons School of Design. She has designed women-wear for Polo Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic, and Gap. She is a regular contributor to various AOL sites, including PopEater, Spinner, and AOL RadioBlog.
Jo Piazza
Jo is an award-winning journalist in New York City. She is a former columnist at the New York Daily News and currently writes on pop culture for a variety of outlets. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, CNN.com, FoxNews.com, The Daily Beast, Slate and Glamour magazine.
Andrea Pyros
Andrea is a freelance writer and editor living in New York’s Hudson Valley. She writers on a variety of topics, including health, relationships, parenting, and fashion and beauty trends.
Erin Scottberg
Erin is a journalist and new media enthausist living in Brooklyn who is obsessed with finding the best deals on everything, whether that means eBaying NWT Anthropologie dresses or clipping coupons from the Sunday newspaper circulars.
Minda Zetlin
Minda is a freelance writer living in Woodstock, NY. She is vice president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and co-author with Bill Pfleging of The Geek Gap.
LV Summer Interns
Annie Shapiro, Strategy Associate to the CEO & Intern Program Director
Annie first became involved with LearnVest as a summer intern. She is passionate about LearnVest’s mission of making personal finance easy to understand and accessible to everyone. She currently works with Alexa as a Strategy Associate and as the Intern Program Director, bringing a great group of interns to the LearnVest team.
Annie is in LearnVest’s target demographic herself. She is a rising senior at Princeton University, where she is majoring in Art History and earning a certificate in Italian Language and Culture.
Raanah Amjadi, Social Media
Raanah first became involved with LearnVest through the LearnVest Ambassador Program, serving as an ambassador to Duke University. As a campus ambassador, she collaborated with Duke’s fashion magazine, Duke Fashion Quarterly, to feature LearnVest in each publication. This summer, she is interning at LearnVest as the social media intern, aiming to reach LearnVest’s target audience through various social media platforms.
Raanah is a rising sophomore at Duke University, where she plans to major in Sociology, minor in Spanish, and earn a certificate in Markets and Management. She also serves as Communications Chair for Duke’s premier student dance group, Defining Movement.
Kaitlin Butler, Video
Recently returned to the U.S. after a semester abroad in Ireland, Kaitlin is eager to spend a summer tracing the ins and outs of the entrepreneurial world of financial education. LearnVest appeals to her as a hotbed of helpful innovation, and she intends to be finance-savvy by the summer’s end.
Kaitlin is a rising senior at Williams College, where she pursues a double major in Literary Studies and Art Studio. While at school, Kaitlin works as the editor of the college newspaper, The William Record, and is the grateful holder of several campus jobs.
Elizabeth Jacobs, Content
On the brink of her return from a semester studying in Paris, Elizabeth joins LearnVest as a summer intern. She immediately wanted to be a part of LearnVest upon hearing about the company because its mission speaks directly to her. She is excited to be back in the States and to begin her work with the Content Team at LearnVest.
Elizabeth is a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis, where she studies Psychology and Creative Writing. As a member of the Student Admissions Committee, Elizabeth also gives guided tours of the University and interviews prospective students.
Liz Jones, Marketing
Hailing from Westchester, New York, Liz is excited to be working on marketing for LearnVest. Liz began her involvement with LearnVest as one of Duke University’s LearnVest Ambassadors.
As a rising junior at Duke University, she is majoring in Political Science and working towards a certificate in Markets and Management. She has been an active member in starting up the Duke Marketing Club this past year and has become very passionate about marketing. Always looking out for ways to save money, she created the first ever Duke Discount Card her freshmen year for all 6,000 Duke undergrads; she has become enthused about the importance of personal finance ever since.
Libby Kane, Content
Libby comes to New York and to LearnVest’s content team with the hope of making personal finance a more accessible and friendly topic for women.
Originally from East Hampton, NY, she holds a B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College, where she both wrote and served as editor of the features section for the Wellesley News. Upon graduation, Libby has become a solid member of LearnVest’s target demographic.
Fiona Maguire, Marketing
Fiona first joined Learnvest in the fall of 2009 as a LearnVest Ambassador at Princeton University, and she became active in helping to recruit and manage more Ambassadors at colleges across the country. This summer, she is working as a marketing intern.
Originally from Palo Alto, CA, Fiona is a rising senior at Princeton University, where she is majoring in Anthropology and pursuing a certificate in American Studies. At Princeton, she performs in the Princeton Triangle Club, a musical theater comedy troupe, and serves as the club’s Vice-President.
Stephanie Sher, Product Development
Stephanie became fascinated with LearnVest’s objective when Alexa von Tobel and Allison Fast, respectively the CEO and Director of Sales and Marketing of LearnVest, came to Princeton to present at a Princeton Women in Business speaker event. Since then, she has become utterly hooked on LearnVest’s mission of breaking new ground in financial literacy. This summer, she joins the LearnVest team with a focus on product development.
Stephanie is a rising junior at Princeton University, where she is concentrating in Economics and pursuing certificates in Finance and Chinese Language and Culture. At Princeton, Stephanie is Co-President of Princeton Women in Business, head of the Princeton chapter of Smart Woman Securities, and an active member of the Varsity B Women’s Tennis team. She also tutors local students in the maths and sciences.
