Future of Wealth Discussion Series: Going Beyond the Score to Transform Credit and Build Wealth
More than 45 million U.S. adults lack a credit record or credit score. But new data sources and technology can help institutions more accurately assess creditworthiness and better price risk for households that have been locked out of credit opportunities in the past.
Watch this webinar to explore how expanding access to affordable credit could unlock wealth building opportunities for more households. We’ll discuss how integrating broader financial data—such as cash flow and payment history—into credit evaluations can help consumers manage short-term needs, access wealth-building assets, and pursue long-term financial goals like homeownership and entrepreneurship. Featuring insights on the new National Strategy for Financial Inclusion and the CFPB’s 1033 rule, this session will delve into transformative opportunities for inclusive finance.
Featured speakers included:
- Erin Borġ, Senior Manager, Inclusive Financial Systems, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
- John Fenstermaker, US Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Equifax
- Kimberly Gartner, Head of Partnerships, Prism Data
- Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
- David Henderson, Founder, Giving Credit
- Evelyn Stark, Managing Director, Financial Health, ideas42 (moderator)
- Michelle Young, Head of Credit Products, Plaid
Speakers
Erin Borġ, Senior Manager, Inclusive Financial Systems, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Erin Borġ is an asset and wealth building expert with over 10 years of experience in policy and practice supporting inclusive solutions to building wealth for low-income communities and communities of color. Erin’s experience includes local and state policy work, designing wealth building solutions with a racial equity lens, and building the capacity of community-based organizations to deliver high quality initiatives. Erin started her career in municipal government at the Office of Financial Empowerment in St. Louis, MO and prior to joining Aspen she served as the technical assistance strategist at Prosperity Now. Erin received a master’s degree in social work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University.
John Fenstermaker, US Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Equifax USIS
John Fenstermaker has a passion for leveraging data and analytics to solve complex business problems, which he has the opportunity to do every day in his role as Chief Data & Analytics Officer for the Equifax USIS business unit. In this position, he oversees data, consumer and commercial analytics, research, product development, and customer solution development in the marketing, risk, and customer relationship management domains. John has served in a variety of roles during his 12+ years at Equifax, growing from a player / coach data scientist role to senior leadership roles. Prior to his latest stint in USIS, John served as the Chief Innovation Architect in the Global Data & Analytics organization where he launched and led an Innovation Architecture organization in generating ideas for, prioritizing, and designing innovation projects to support the Equifax $5B+ global business while overseeing a data science organization in developing many of these innovations. Throughout his Equifax career, John has been focused on innovating with alternative data to enable lenders to make smarter decisions while enabling more consumers and businesses to access credit products.
Kimberly Gartner, Head of Partnerships, Prism Data
Kimberly Gartner is responsible for partnerships and enterprise sales at Prism Data, a cash flow analytics and underwriting platform used to accurately predict credit risk, score thin-file consumers, identify first-party fraud, and assist in the management of existing portfolios. Starting her financial services career at Sears Credit, she became an early advisor to a consumer credit card company, where Prism was incubated. Kimberly’s financial services expertise was built over a decade at the Financial Health Network and as a co-founder of Canary, a global employee relief fund platform.
Kate Griffin, Director of Programs, Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
Kate Griffin serves as Director of Programs at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (FSP). She has spearheaded an initiative supporting the execution of a National Financial Inclusion Strategy in the U.S. driving towards increasing measurable financial security outcomes for consumers. Most recently, she has led the launch of a National Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention bringing together stakeholders across government, law enforcement, financial services, telecommunications, social media, and consumer awareness and advocacy to create collective action for systemic prevention strategies.
Kate has spent two decades working with financial services professionals to leverage technology to work better for low-income and marginalized people, both here in the US and in developing countries. She has led a non-profit social enterprise, worked in a fintech start-up, and led policy and program change for savings, credit access, higher education financing, and housing at Prosperity Now, CGAP, and the Grameen Foundation.
David Henderson, Founder, Giving Credit
David Henderson is the founder of Giving Credit, a fintech leveraging peer-lending in financially excluded communities to expand access to mainstream credit. David incubated Giving Credit as a fellow at Princeton University and authored a paper peer-lending between U.S. households as a visiting fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Before Giving Credit, David was the Chief Technology Officer of a national nonprofit that distributed over $200 million in direct cash transfers to hundreds of thousands of people living with low incomes. David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Pomona College and a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Evelyn Stark, Managing Director, ideas42 (moderator)
Evelyn Stark is a Managing Director at ideas42, leading the the Financial Health portfolio. Together with her team, Evelyn is focused on developing behaviorally informed solutions that enable people with low incomes, in the United States and internationally, to manage their finances and achieve their goals.
Evelyn started her career in banking – foreclosing commercial real estate. She moved to Uganda in the 1990s to work on national and regional microfinance programs, focusing on institutional strengthening, market research and product development. Returning to the U.S. in 2003, Evelyn spent most of the next 20 years as a funder at USAID, Gates Foundation, and MetLife Foundation, where she developed and led the organization’s $200 million financial health strategy.
Michelle Young, Head of Credit Products, Plaid
Michelle is the Credit Product Lead at Plaid where she innovates on cash flow based credit products used by companies like SoFi, Mission Lane, BMG Money, and Better to accelerate the lending and consumer decisioning process. Prior to Plaid, Michelle was the Head of Lending Product at Figure, worked in risk at SoFI, and was a consultant at EY.
Our ability to identify, engage, and support leaders to advance this work is only possible due to the generous support of a growing group of partners. We are grateful for the support and partnership of all of the investors on our Inclusive Financial System work: Edward Jones, Equifax, H&R Block, JPMorganChase, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Plaid, U.S. Bank, Walmart, and Wells Fargo.