Safwan Shah (PhD AeroEngr'94)

Sometimes, all you need to solve a tough problem is a rocket scientist with a good golf game.

Fortunately, at least one exists: Safwan Shah studied both electrical and aerospace engineering at CU Boulder before establishing himself as a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur in financial technologies, or FinTech.

Along the way, he designed experiments for the US space program and researched artificial neural networks and AI.

Today Safwan is CEO and founder of PayActiv, which helps workers gain instant and timely access to earned wages, alleviating financial stress between pay periods and allowing them to avoid punitive fees of pawn shops and predatory lenders. Walmart, ADP, Visa, Uber and many others partner with PayActiv.

Earlier, Safwan cofounded Infonox, which produced payments technology widely used in the casino industry and also developed the first biometric ATM.

Born in Pakistan and now a California resident, Safwan met his wife, Ginni Dhindsa, in Boulder. He is an intimidatingly good golfer with a voracious appetite for new knowledge, a friend said.

Safwan has taught at Cal-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and UC Santa Cruz’s Baskin School of Engineering, and advised CU Boulder on innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.

“Safwan is a perpetual learner, reading everything he can get his hands on, absorbing, analyzing, critiquing and challenging ideas often taken for granted,” a friend said. “He challenges the status quo constantly and has the unique ability to apply knowledge from the multitude of physical and social sciences to finding solutions that could have a meaningful impact on society.

“His passion for learning is only matched with his love for sharing his knowledge.”