Robert Thomas Greenfield IV (also known as Robby Greenfield) is an American businessman, activist, philanthropist and former college athlete. He is the founder of the

financial technology Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

company ''Umoja Labs'', formerly known as ''Emerging Impact'', and serving as the former Head of Social Impact of ConsenSys, co-founded its philanthropic arm, ConsenSys Social Impact.

Early life

Greenfield is from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He attended a four-year prep school at

The Westminster Schools The Westminster Schools is a Kindergarten–12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, founded in 1951. History Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School (NAPS), a girls' school ...

in Atlanta, GA, where he played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and participated in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. As a soccer player, he won the 2011 GHSA State Championships. In Track & Field, Greenfield participated in the

100 meter The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

, 4x100 meter, and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

events, and won a State Championship as a sophomore .

Education

Greenfield attended the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and played on its varsity soccer team. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

. While studying at the University of Michigan, Greenfield was a student activist, serving as the treasurer of the

Black Student Union In higher education in the United States, a Black Student Union (BSU) is an organization of Black students, generally with a focus on protest. Historically functioning as a Black counterpart to the largely white organization Students for a Democra ...

and a leader of the 2013 social media awareness campaign Being Black at Michigan (#BBUM). Greenfield also earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Goizueta Business School Emory University's Goizueta Business School (also known as ''Goizueta Business School'', ''Emory Business School'', or simply ''Goizueta'' – pronounced ''goy-swet-ah'') is a private business school of Emory University located in Atlanta, Georgia ...

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in 2020.

Career

Greenfield’s career in the blockchain industry began when he developed an online cryptocurrency trading firm as a junior at the University of Michigan. He went on to co-found the app development company Nomsy, which developed and published a food discovery app with dietary information. After graduating, Greenfield worked at companies such as

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

. Greenfield was eventually appointed Head of Social Impact at ''ConsenSys''. He co-founded ''ConsenSys Social Impact'', which leveraged blockchain technology and education to address the needs of underprivileged individuals globally. As a blockchain community advocate, Greenfield helped launch scholarship programs, including Black Girls CODE’s inaugural blockchain program. In 2018, Greenfield was appointed as the Chief of Technology for the ''Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition'' after ConsenSys helped launch the initiative. In 2020, Greenfield returned to Emory University to teach at the university’s “Peer to Peer Master Class” sessions. In 2020, he founded ''Emerging Impact'' (now known as ''Umoja Labs'') a

fintech Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

company developing blockchain products for areas with limited access through fiat and

mobile money Mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device. Instead of paying with cas ...

. Its first product was Umoja, an open developer banking platform for

. Emerging Impact has partnered with major

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

such as Hope for Haiti,

Care International CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...

, and the Celo Foundation to support digital humanitarian aid programs around the world. The company was named a winner of Inclusive Fintech 50’s 2022 cohort for their work in digitizing financial services for underserved communities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenfield, Robby Living people Activists from Atlanta African-American activists 21st-century American businesspeople African-American track and field athletes Year of birth missing (living people) Goizueta Business School alumni Goldman Sachs people