Matt Fellowes

Matt Fellowes (born February 27, 1975) is the Founder and CEO of HelloWallet, a Washington-DC based SaaS enterprise company that helps employers manage and improve their human capital outcomes and total reward programs. It is a behavioral technology company that uses behavioral economics to improve worker decisions.^[1][2] Fellowes founded HelloWallet on the premise that the company would have a strong social mission: for every five subscriptions the company sells, it gives one to a person or family in need.^[3]

Fellowes is a frequent contributor to consumer finance policy and benefit debates. In March 2013, he was invited to testify before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, to address what the government could do to keep more money in the retirement system in America.^[4] He has previously presented testimony at the United States Department of the Treasury,^[5] White House, United States Congress,^[6] and a wide range of media, including The Wall Street Journal^[7][8][9] The Washington Post,^[10] and PBS.^[11]

Education

Fellowes earned a Master's degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2004. Before that, Fellowes was at St. Lawrence University, where he earned a B.A. in History in 1997.

Career

Prior to HelloWallet, Fellowes was a scholar at the Brookings Institution and an adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and George Washington University.^[12][13] While at Brookings, he was a frequent contributor to national consumer finances policy debates, including basic finances, mortgages, household debt, credit cards and other short-term debt, poverty policy, and numerous employer benefits.^{[14][15][16][17]} He was a frequent speaker at the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the United States Department of the Treasury, along with a wide range of academic and legislative conferences, and testified in front of the United States Congress and statehouses across the country on consumer finance issues.^{[18][19][20][21]}

His work was frequently cited by a wide range of national officials. President Bill Clinton and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cited his work in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for lower cost financial services for low-income families.^[22] Similarly, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, wrote “Matt Fellowes has provided my office with invaluable analysis and data that we regularly use to create effective public policies designed to help Angelinos build a strong middle class.” ^[23]

Honors and awards

The Washingtonian selected Fellowes as a Tech Titan of 2013. The publication describes Tech Titans as "the people influencing the next generation of technologies and changing how we interact with the world around us."^[24]

In 2010, he was named by the Huffington Post as a Top 100 Game Changer, along with Steve Jobs, Paul Volcker, Jeff Skoll and James Cameron. According to the Huffington Post, Fellowes "changed the game by offering high-quality, low-cost financial advice to all Americans."^[25]

He was selected to launch HelloWallet at the Clinton Global Initiative and was singled out as an example of social innovation business by President Clinton on Larry King Live.^[26]

References