Gift of College

Wayne Weber, CEO and Founder of GiftofCollege.com, is an entrepreneur dedicated to fighting one of the greatest multigenerational financial crises of our time – student loan debt, which is topping nearly $1.6 trillion in the U.S. Wayne has been a higher education savings advocate at the forefront of providing simple and streamlined solutions for families and employers to help save and pay for college and eliminate the unbearable burden of student loan debt. In 2008, he developed GiftofCollege.com – a leading crowdfunding platform aimed at eradicating student debt and helping Americans save for higher education. Its suite of products includes Gift of College Gift Cards (available online and at over 3000 retailer locations including select Target, Save Mart, Lucky, and H-E-B stores) and Gift of College At-Work, an employee benefit program offering payroll deduction and employer match technology. To learn more about the Gift of College platform or student loan repayment/college savings as an employee benefit, contact: wayne@giftofcollege.com

Brian is a highly skilled and motivated software architect and developer with over 20 years of experience. He has designed and developed hundreds of web and mobile projects for businesses ranging from small start-ups to large enterprises in every industry. He has organized and executed all phases of SDLC for clients such as AAA, Allstate Insurance, United States Air Force, Thomson Corporation, eNom.com, Register.com, Eaton Corporation, and many more. In 2007, he co-founded KeyLimeTie, LLC. Within the first 4 years, he grew the company from 2 employees to over 40 while earning several awards and accolades. In 2015, he left KeyLimeTie and joined Gift of College. Brian holds multiple technical certifications, is a certified NAUI Divemaster, and 8 time Ironman Finisher. Brian's primary role is currently with Wavoto, he contributes approximately 10-15 hours per week to Gift of College.

Patricia Roberts has helped tens of thousands of families prepare for the cost of higher education through her leadership in nearly every aspect of the 529 college savings arena over the past 20 years. She is currently Chief Operating Officer at Gift of College, Inc. where innovations are created to engage friends, family and employers to help individuals save for college and pay down student loan debt. Prior to this, she held key legal, product and 529 program management roles at major financial services firms and she designed and launched several first-of-their-kind philanthropic programs through which families received seed money for college savings accounts along with valuable financial education and incentives to help them save on their own. In her favorite role of all, she made it a priority to save a little at a time for her son’s higher education expenses by directing contributions from her paycheck into 529 college savings accounts. After 18 years of saving, she will be proud to see him graduate debt-free from college in 2021. Patricia is also a motivational speaker and writer and holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Duquesne University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Christine Keyser, Director of Operations, has nearly 30 years of mission-orientated experience including 25 years for the largest youth orientated organization in the country. In addition to key operational roles, she held roles in program planning and management, staff and volunteer management, and training. Christine holds a B.S. in Family & Child Studies from Northern Illinois University.

Nadine has over 20 years of experience leading strategic digital marketing, social media, influencer engagement and analytics initiatives. At GiftofCollege.com, Nadine focuses her talents on creating value for customers through content development, customer success programs, and social strategy. She is passionate about developing brand strategies that inspire and transform brands.

Dr. Kristine Sickels has a successful track record in turnaround management, brand building, and strategy development. She is a transformational business leader who is known for a strategic focus on getting results. Throughout her marketing career, Kristine has led the marketing strategy for an impressive portfolio of global consumer brands such as Rubbermaid, Crockpot, Mr. Coffee, Oster, Calphalon, and more. She is an advocate for innovation and communication approaches grounded in consumer insights. Kristine is the CEO and Founder of a marketing consulting agency where she brings executive level thinking and partnership to small & medium sized businesses. Operating as a virtual CMO, she works with brands such as Kimball International, Jess Ekstrom, Nexus Project, to help them grow their businesses with great marketing. She focuses on organizational and personal branding, strategy, innovation along with coaching & mentorship. Kristine is also the Co-Founder, Director, Corporate Secretary & Chief Marketing Officer of Gift of College Inc. College loan debt has become the number one form of consumer debt in the US. Gift of College helps students and families save for college tuition, taking away the stress and worry of college loan debt. Kristine holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University; a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan’s prestigious Ross School of business; and a Doctor of Business Administration from Georgia State University.

Jaime Casap is the former Education Evangelist at Google. Jaime evangelizes the power and potential of technology and the web as enabling and supporting tools in pursuit of promoting inquiry-driven learning models. Jaime collaborates with school systems, educational organizations, and leaders focused on building innovation and iteration into our education policies and practices. He speaks on education, technology, innovation, and generation z, at events around the world. In addition to his role at Google, Jaime is also an author and serves on a number of boards for organizations focused on education, innovation, and equity. Jaime teaches a 10th-grade communication class at the Phoenix Coding Academy in Phoenix and is an adjunct professor at Arizona State University, where he teaches classes on policy, innovation, and leadership.

Rob has worked in the financial services and regulatory compliance field for over 25 years. Rob has been with Gift of College for over nine years. The friendship between Wayne Weber, CEO and Rob began as a simple lunch meeting in 2011. Fast forward to 2020. “Our entire Gift of College teams’ passion and mission of bringing awareness to educational savings and addressing the student-loan debt crisis is stronger than ever. As some wise individual once said, it takes ten years to become an overnight success.” For the past two years Rob has been with StartEngine Primary LLC, a registered broker-dealer and FINRA/SIPC member. He currently is the Chief Compliance Officer of StartEngine Primary LLC. Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) is a separately regulated business and is not part of StartEngine Primary LLC’s operations. StartEngine Primary LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of StartEngine Crowdfunding Inc., which is also the parent company of StartEngine Capital LLC, the funding portal conducting this Regulation Crowdfunding Offering. StartEngine Primary LLC and StartEngine Capital LLC are sister companies. This role is Rob's primary job. Rob received his Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration, Real Estate and Finance from California State University, Northridge. He currently holds eight securities industry licenses.