Biography
David Helene is the founder and CEO of Edquity (www.edquity.co), the leading provider of financial success and emergency aid platforms for high school and college students. Under his leadership, Edquity has worked with principal partners across two different markets — K-12 and higher education — that include the NYC DOE, DC Public School District, IDEA Public Schools, Nevada State College, and LaGuardia Community College, and the Dallas County Community College District, among others. He has helped the organization attract significant investment and prizes from funding partners that include the Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Network, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (now Financial Health Network), New Schools Venture Fund, NYU, and Wells Fargo. Prior to Edquity, David served as a co-founder of UniFi Scholars, a non-profit provider of college financial planning education for low-income high school students, where, in partnership with organizations like KIPP, he worked with over 300 students in less than 18 months of operation. Prior to UniFi Scholars, David spent nearly three years at The Clearing House, a financial trade association representing the interests of the nation’s largest commercial banks. Named the youngest vice president in TCH’s history, he ultimately served as Chief of Staff, the role in which he worked directly with TCH’s president and was responsible for overseeing a variety of special operational and advocacy initiatives. A lifelong New Yorker, he is a graduate of Yale University.