Jeannie Tarkenton

Jeannie Tarkenton is the Founder and CEO of Funding U. This mission-driven lender offers fair access to education completion and upskilling through advanced data analytics and innovative blended capital structures. Funding U offers lower-cost, merit-based, last-dollar loans without requiring a co-signer, creating a scalable solution for the roughly 3 million students facing a $7,000 to $10,000 gap between their total aid and the actual cost to finish their degrees each year—even at our nation's lowest-cost institutions. Since 2018, the company has funded over $125 million in student loans to students who would otherwise use high-interest credit cards, sacrifice necessities, or drop out. Most borrowers are first-generation, low- to moderate-income students attending public universities, with more than half having transferred from community colleges. These students, often with limited family resources, are at high risk of dropping out and missing out on the increased income and employability a degree can bring—especially when they're close to graduation and have already taken on federal student loans. After receiving a Funding U loan, 90% graduate on time, and more than 80% find employment within a year of graduation, with an average salary of $64,500.Starting in 2021, Funding U has also been the service provider for large-scale philanthropic funds and workforce development programs that offer very low-cost, outcomes-based financing to support upskilling in critical industries such as healthcare, construction technology, and skilled trades.Before founding Funding U, Jeannie started and led a strategic advisory firm that specialized in connecting corporate and private philanthropy with Atlanta-based nonprofits, especially in education, foster care, and hunger. She was also Director of Development at Literacy Action in Atlanta, and was the founding Director of Admissions at Atlanta Girls' School.Jeannie has served on the Emory University Board of Visitors, was a founding board member of Girls on the Run Atlanta, and has been a board member of Atlanta Girls' School. She is also a proud mother of three kind, hardworking young adults: Anna, Peter, and Robert —her three most successful start-up ventures of all time.