Steve Mariotti

Steve Mariotti is the founder and former president (1988-2005) of the nonprofit Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and the author of books and textbooks related to entrepreneurship education. Mariotti was inspired to found NFTE by his early career as a special ed teacher in New York City, as chronicled in his 2019 memoir, Goodbye Homeboy: How My Students Drove Me Crazy and Inspired a Movement, BenBella Books. After retiring as NFTE president in 2015, Mariotti served as Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship at Philadelphia University (2016-2018), and Senior Fellow at Rising Tide Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey (2018-2020). In 2020, Mariotti executive-produced the PBS docu-series Trauma to Triumph: The Rise of the Entrepreneur. In 2021, he founded the nonprofit Center for Financial Independence, which provides social entrepreneurs with mentorship and fundraising training.