Meet The College Investor Team
The College Investor team is made of up of experienced financial journalists and professionals with decades of experience. You will find these experts producing content across the website, podcast, and video channels.
Robert Farrington, Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Robert Farrington is the founder and editor-in-chief of The College Investor. He is also America's Student Loan Debt Expert, and regularly writes about student loan debt, investing, and millennial money.
Robert graduated from UC San Diego with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a Masters of Business Administration.
Elizabeth Shutty, Partnerships
Elizabeth Shutty manages advertiser partnerships at The College Investor. She loves connecting with brands and building relationships, especially in the affiliate space. Originally from Kansas City, she now lives in Mexico City!
Lisa Farrington, Managing Editor
Lisa Farrington is our managing editor, where she brings almost a decade of deep analytical insight to The College Investor. She loves to dive into the details on product and services to help consumers understand any "gotchas" and what to be aware of. Plus, she's incredibly savvy when it comes to hacking budgeting, investing, and saving money.
Lisa graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor's degree in business administration.
Ashley Barnett, Editor At Large
Ashley Barnett has been writing and editing personal finance articles for the Internet since 2008. In addition to editing for The College Investor she lends her talents to USA Today Blueprint, Forbes Advisor, and others. Prior to that she was the Content Director for an international media company leading the content for their suite of personal finance sites. She lives in Phoenix AZ where you can find her re-reading Harry Potter for the 100th time.
Colin Graves, Editor At Large
Colin Graves is a personal finance editor and writer. During 20+ years in the banking industry, he managed books of business in excess of $1 billion, winning awards for outstanding leadership and customer service. In 2022, after building his side hustles into a full-time business, Colin walked away from the 9-5. He teaches others how to do the same at ColinGraves.com.
Hannah Rounds, Writer
Hannah is our principle review and product writer at The College Investor. She has tried almost every piece of financial software in existence, and knows the ins and outs of almost every financial services company.
She has an expertise in taxes, budgeting, and investing.
Mark Kantrowitz, Writer
Mark is an expert on student financial aid, scholarships, 529 plans and student loans. He has been quoted in more than 10,000 newspaper and magazine articles about college admissions and financial aid.
Mark has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Reuters, U.S. News & World Report, MarketWatch, Money Magazine, Forbes, Newsweek and Time. He is also the author of five bestselling books about scholarships and financial aid and holds seven patents.
Mark serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Student Financial Aid, the editorial advisory board of Bottom Line/Personal, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Center for Excellence in Education. He previously served as a member of the board of directors of the National Scholarship Providers Association. Mark has two Bachelor's degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master's degree in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
Sarah Sharkey, Writer
Sarah is a personal finance writer covering credit cards, mortgages and student loans. She has written for numerous finance publications, including MagnifyMoney, Business Insider and ChooseFI. Her blog, Adventurous Adulting, helps young adults get a handle on their finances.
Eric Rosenberg, Writer
Eric Rosenberg is a financial writer, speaker, and consultant based in Ventura, California. He holds an undergraduate finance degree from the University of Colorado and an MBA in finance from the University of Denver. After working as a bank manager and then nearly a decade in corporate finance and accounting, Eric left the corporate world for full-time online self-employment. Learn more about Eric here.
Athena Lent, Writer
Athena Valentine Lent is a nationally published financial columnist for Slate Magazine and other major publications. She’s also a passionate financial educator who received the Plutus Award for Best Personal Finance Resource for Underserved Communities for her work in the Latino community. When not working, she can be found reading a Stephen King novel with her main man, a polydactyl cat named Harrison George.
Amanda Claypool, Writer
Amanda Claypool is a writer, entrepreneur, and strategy consultant. She's lived in the Middle East, Washington, DC, and a 2014 Subaru Outback but now calls Asheville home.
Amanda writes about money, crypto, emerging tech, and the future of the economy.
Miranda Marquit, Writer
Miranda Marquit, MBA, has been covering personal finance, investing and business topics for more than 15 years, and covering crypto topics for more than 10 years. She has contributed to numerous outlets, including NPR, Marketwatch, U.S. News & World Report and HuffPost.
She is an avid podcaster, co-hosting the podcast at Money Talks News. Miranda lives in Idaho, where she enjoys spending time with her son playing board games, travel and the outdoors.
Allison Daniel, Writer
Allison's passion lies in decoding the ways of the world to help put others on a path to success. She likes to ask big questions, and it’s her goal to find answers to share with you.
A self-acknowledged transplant to the Pacific Northwest, Allison likes to write about finance, policy, fitness, and anything else that sparks her curiosity.
Justine Nelson, Video
Justine is a personal finance expert that focuses on budgeting, personal finance, and her journey of paying off her student loan debt. She also creates content and shares her story at Debt Free Millennials.
You can find Justine's work at The College Investor YouTube Channel.
Andy Hill, Video
Andy is a personal finance personality that focuses on family finances. He is a full time content creator with a focus on both podcasting and video content. You can find his story at Marriage Kids and Money.
You can see Andy in action at The College Investor TikTok.
Tyler Boss, Audio
Tyler is the powerhouse behind The College Investor Audio Show. He is a professional voice actor and audio producer with years of experience.
You can learn more about Tyler here.
Richelle Hawley, Compliance
Richelle is our compliance specialist, who focuses on ensuring the accuracy of our content. She handles the daily compliance updates and audit requests from our brand partners, ensuring that our rates and facts are accurate for our readers everyday.
The College Investor's Review Board
The College Investor's content is consistently fact checked by experts to ensure that our readers are receiving the most accurate information possible.
A part of that process is our Review Board, which is composed of financial professionals who read, review, and provide updates on our content to ensure that it's accurate.
Our board is composed of professionals that includes certified financial planners, certified public accountants, tax experts, investors, and more. These experts have years of experience in their space.
Danny Cieniewicz, CFP®, CCFC
Danny is a CFP® and Certified College Financial Consultant (CCFC) at Hyperion Financial. He also provides financial aid planning and student loan planning for families focused on more tailored planning.
Ohan Kayikchyan Ph.D., CFP®
Ohan is a CFP® and Doctor of Economics. He currently is a money coach at The Money Doctor. He has been featured on Forbes, Yahoo Finance, U.S. News, USA Today, CBS NEWS, and other publications.
Past Contributors
The College Investor has enjoyed the contributions of many different experts and specialists over the years. Here are some of our past contributors.
Ben Reynolds - Ben Reynolds founded Sure Dividend in 2014. Reynolds has long held a passion for business in general and investing in particular. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and a minor in Chinese studies from The University of Houston. Learn more about Ben here.
Brandon Turner - Brandon Turner is a real estate investor, podcaster, author, entrepreneur, and speaker. As the host of the BiggerPockets podcast with over 100 million downloads, Brandon is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on real estate investing. Learn more about Brandon here.
Chris Huntley - Chris Hutnley is an expert in life insurance and has been a licensed insurance agent since 2004. He brings deep knowledge of the insurance industry to The College Investor, along with writing about life insurance on his own site. You can read Chris' articles here.
Daniel Kopp - Daniel Kopp, CFP®, an Air Force veteran and fee-only financial planner who created Military Life Planning as a resource to help inform, educate, and advise servicemembers and their families on the best ways to use their military benefits. He is a fiduciary financial planner focused on serving the needs of widowed spouses and servicemembers. Learn more about Daniel here.
Kathleen Celmins - Kathleen writes about her path to financial independence as well as ways to save money, live simply, and enjoy the fun things that life has to offer. Learn more about Kathleen here.
Harry Campbell - Harry Campbell is a writer for the College Investor and runs his own website, The Rideshare Guy, where he talks about everything about ridesharing, side hustles, delivery, and more. Learn more about Harry here.
Jay Fleischman - Jay S. Fleischman is a student loan lawyer who consults with borrowers nationwide. He is a nationally recognized speaker on the subject of student loans as well as the host of The Student Loan Show, a weekly podcast providing news and information about managing your educational debt. Learn more about Jay here.
John Schmoll - John Schmoll is the founder of Frugal Rules, a Dad, husband and veteran of the financial services industry. He’s passionate about helping people learn how to make wise investing decisions so they can prepare for their futures and avoid the mistakes that he and so many others have made.
Melanie Lockert - Melanie Lockert is a freelance wordsmith, a passionate debt fighter, and frugal lovin’ minimalist who writes at DearDebt.com. She devotes 50% of her income to student loan debt and is often dreaming of her next adventure. Learn more about Melanie here.
Stefanie O'Connell - Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez is an author and journalist that focuses extensively on personal finance and career issues that impact women. She is also the host of Real Simple Magazine’s podcast, Money Confidential.
Tom Blake - Tom Blake is a personal finance writer with a passion for making money online, cryptocurrency and NFTs, investing, and the gig economy.
Zina Kumock - Zina Kumok is a freelance writer specializing in personal finance. She has been featured in Lifehacker, DailyWorth and Time, and she paid off $28,000 worth of student loans in three years. She also works with people one-on-one as a money coach. Learn more about Zina here.
Interested in joining the team? Check out The College Investor open positions here.
