Richard Swart

Social

Biography

A PhD in Information Systems, an international award-winning academic & a recognized global thought leader in the crowdfunding industry. Richard is a founding board member of the Crowdfunding Professional Assoc., the Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates, & an early leader in the field. Richard co-organized the first major national conference on crowdfunding & coordinated several educational events on the JOBS Act throughout the US for the White House.

As Director of Research for the University of California, Berkeley Program in Innovation in Entrepreneurial & Social Finance Program, which is dedicated to academic research on crowdfunding where he also organized the first International Academic Symposium on Crowdfunding Research. As Director of Research & Analysis for Crowdfund Capital Advisors he guides research that informs advisory services globally in crowdfunding policy, best practices & trends in emerging alternative finance markets.

Richard has emerged as the global expert in development sin crowdfunding. He was the lead author on a research project for the World Bank exploring crowdfunding & funding models for innovative technology. He has lectured in Europe, the UK, Africa, the Middle East & throughout the US. In recognition of his research in the UK, he was recently made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Dr. Swart was the lead author or researcher on the World Bank’s report on Crowdfunding & it’s Potential Impact for the Developing World. He partnered with the University of Cambridge to complete the first Country level-study of alternative finance: The Rise of Future Finance: The UK Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report. With Crowdfund Capital Advisors he authored the report: How Does Crowdfunding Impact Job Creation, Revenue & Professional Investor Interest? –the first report that empirically demonstrated crowdfunding’s effects on job creation & future investments.

Industry Expertise (2)

Financial Services

Real Estate Dev/Ops

Areas of Expertise (1)

Crowdfunding

Affiliations (6)

• Crowdfunding Professional Association
• Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates
• Crowdfund Capital Advisors
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
• University of Cambridge
• Grow America Ventures