Richard Swart is the Chief Strategy Officer of NextGen Crowdfunding. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, he also serves as a member of the University of Cambridge’s Alternative Financing Industry Board. Richard is also a founding board member of the Crowdfunding Professional Association (CfPA) and the Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CIFRA). He has as worked nationally to develop initiatives for entrepreneur funding and business competitions, and has been instrumental in the development of crowdfunding. He was recently lead author of a forthcoming study of crowdfunding internationally for the World Bank. Additionally, he advises the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and works with several other prominent foundations, think tanks, funds and corporations.

Swart holds a PhD in information systems from Utah State University and studied at the University of Utah and Stanford University