Meet the Team
Suzanne Smith
Founder/CEO
Suzanne Smith is pioneering Grassroots FinTech—extending financial inclusion beyond individuals to organizations.
After nearly 30 years in international development, from Niger to Mozambique and Bangladesh to Afghanistan, Suzanne recognized a critical gap: grassroots organizations were being excluded from funding not due to lack of capacity, but due to lack of financial infrastructure.
She founded Accountable Partners to solve organizational financial exclusion.
Rus Ackner
Chief Evangelist
Rus Ackner is an accomplished marketing strategist, business advisor, and brand builder with more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of performance, positioning, and executive-level execution. As founder and principal of Torch Group (TRCH.com), Rus leads with a sharp eye for what moves markets and an even sharper sense for what doesn’t.
Maria Sibley
Chief Bean Counter
We’re excited to work with Maria, owner of Balanced Bookkeeping LLC, as our technical advisor. Maria brings over 20 years of hands-on business experience across restaurant management, retail, banking, farming, and wholesale operations—giving her deep insight into how different types of organizations manage their finances and operations.
Calvin Strope
Electron Wrangler
Calvin is passionate about making high-quality education available to all. He specializes in web technologies and the psychology of learning so that he can be a leader in the movement to democratize education. Calvin studied Mathematics at Colorado School of Mines.
Concerned with the mounting student debt crisis, Calvin mathematically derived the most efficient way to pay back loans, and made a free on-line calculator. Now anyone can plug in their various student loans and see how to save time and money on their loans.