James Garvey

James Garvey is the founder CEO of Self Financial (www.self.inc), a credit-building platform working to increase economic inclusion and financial resilience through products that make building credit accessible. Garvey founded Self in 2015 after a mistake setting up autopay damaged his credit. The experience gave him a deeper appreciation of the challenges millions of people with low or no scores face in building and maintaining credit. Under Garvey’s leadership, Self has raised $127 million in funding, acquired a company and expanded from the signature Credit Builder Account to offer a full suite of credit building products, and grew the company to more than 300 employees working across 28 states. An entrepreneur and software engineer by trade, Garvey holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California, Davis.