David Lighton is an accomplished entrepreneur, blockchain expert, and former policymaker with a keen interest in financial inclusion. He is the founder and CEO of SendFriend, a blockchain-based payment platform that aims to make money transfers more accessible and affordable for overseas Filipino workers. Lighton is also a co-founder of Lithium Finance, a web3 pricing oracle that leverages blockchain technology to offer decentralized finance solutions.

Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Lighton worked as an analyst with the International Finance Corporation and as a research assistant to Professor David Calleo at Johns Hopkins University. He was also a fellow at the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT and the Global Justice Program at Yale University.

Lighton is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Finance. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in International Economics and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Guitar from Johns Hopkins.

In his free time, Lighton enjoys playing jazz guitar and has taken courses at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.