Mike O'Brien

Mike O'Brien is a passionate innovator and the founder and CEO of Mingle, LLC. His venture includes Conext (Conext.me), Postings.com, Climber.com, and InternationalExports.com. Conext is a Platform As A Service business streamlining workflows at colleges. Postings.com assists companies in job posting distribution and candidate management. InternationalExports facilitates Asian market access for domestic alcohol brands. He relocated to Shanghai in 2017 to foster importer relations.

Mike is an investor and advisor to Understand.com, RehearsalVRP, and LawVeritas.com. He serves on the boards of Southern California BBB and Legacy Education.

Before Mingle, Mike co-founded and led financialaid.com, a prominent online student loan provider. Under his guidance, the company became a U.S. leader, processing over $1 billion in student loans annually. He introduced innovative internet marketing strategies and developed platforms like CampusDirt.com, RateYourCampus.com, and CampusClix.com. In 2004, Mike successfully sold financialaid.com to Education Lending Group, later acquired by CIT for $400MM.

Mike's expertise in higher education finance and internet marketing has led him to feature in national media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, Fox News Network, the Chicago Tribune, and Kiplingers.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from California State University, Fresno. He was appointed Entrepreneur in Residence at his alma mater in 2006 and served on the Fresno State Alumni Association Board in 2007.