The Team
The YNAB Team hails from Australia to Austin, Texas — from Massachusetts to Maine — and a tiny hop from Arizona to Utah. Did we mention Switzerland?
Jesse Founder
Jesse is the founder of YouNeedABudget.com. When he’s not speaking on, writing about, fine-tuning software for, or doing his own budgeting, he enjoys playing the piano, working in the garden, CrossFit, marksmanship, and honing his golf swing. Jesse graduated from Brigham Young University with a Masters of Accountancy degree. Immediately after he obtained his CPA license, he let it lapse so he could work on "You Need A Budget" full-time. Jesse lives in Utah, is married to Julie, and has five children.
Taylor CTO
Taylor joined the You Need a Budget team back when it was “just” an amazing spreadsheet. Shortly after collaborating with Jesse to launch YNAB Pro, Taylor left his dream job of programming video games to pursue a bigger dream of working on YNAB. Since then, Taylor has been searching for a job title that accurately describes doing “everything remotely technical and fun related to software and business, including programming, process automation, quality assurance, web development, user experience, and graphic design.” Although he proudly calls Austin, Texas home, Taylor loves to travel, and makes a point to live in the same city as his beautiful girlfriend—Turin, Italy—for a good part of each year. When he’s not writing code, he is learning how to spike a volleyball, playing board games, geocaching, hosting Couchsurfers, and playing video games. He also wants to say “he is an avid snowboarder,” because it sounds so cool, but is pretty sure going once doesn’t count. Taylor is an aspiring snowboarder.
Chance COO
Chance is YNAB's Chief Operating Officer. His previous work runs the gamut from business consultant to business development and from sole entreprenuer to team manager. He graduated with his Business Management degree from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Business Strategy. Chance has been a long time user of YNAB (since the early Pro days!) and thanks his lucky stars for YNAB everyday. When he's not busy working on YNAB, you'll find him on the tennis court, golf course, in a gym, on a snow board, or out hiking and camping. Chance and his wife, Kimi, have two children and live in Utah.
Ian Senior Developer
An enigma from the antipodes, Ian works while others sleep. Committing code from the ether and returning to it in silence, Ian has never been seen by another, living You Need a Budget team member. His YNAB forum moniker, “rodeoclown,” provides yet another puzzle. Does he ride bulls, wild stallions, or another bucking beast? Is he, in fact, a clown? Is he even human—or something else entirely? Can he come up with another question before this spiel ends? No. He is indeed a man of mystery. In real life, Ian has one wife (she’s cute), one dog (also cute), one fish (quiet), three kids (cute, but not quiet) and three chickens (neither cute, nor quiet). He lives in the picturesque Blue Mountains outside of Sydney Australia, and scored his dream job in November 2010 working for YNAB. When not writing ridiculous third-person biographies, Ian works with Taylor to build the software that drives the YNAB method. It's also been said that "He's so nice that I'm going to vomit", which was the best thing anyone has ever said about him.
Sebastian Mobile Developer
Sebastian lives in Switzerland and enjoys developing YNAB’s iPhone app. When he’s not working, he spends his time admiring wrist watches, eating chocolate, skiing, and riding his bikes (either motor bike or racing bike). Besides the stereotypical Swiss pastimes, Sebastian also enjoys PC gaming and family togetherness. :)
Steve Customer Service Lead
Since first discovering YNAB back when it was a spreadsheet in June 2006 and getting hooked on the concept of Rule 4, Steve dove in as one of the first members of the YNAB forums later that year and quickly found he had a passion for helping others understand YNAB and budgeting. Two years (and couple of thousand posts later) he started working as YNAB's first customer service rep. (taking the job away from Jesse) and now, after more than 23 years working a blue collar paper mill job, Steve gave up his 18 mile (each way) commute in 2011 to work full time helping people with all things YNAB. As such he's taken on new responsibilities including affiliates and shipping as well as working with advisors, churches and organizations that want to share YNAB with the people they work with. Aside from work, Steve enjoys his large family (4 kids and 1.2 grandkids), Music, Scouts, Star Trek and Movies. He lives in western Maine but ponders moving now that he's not chained to the paper mill.
Erin Education Lead
At You Need a Budget, Erin enjoys working on “anything and everything” that helps people learn about budgeting. Credit card debt brought her to YNAB in 2006. Four years later and thanks to YNAB, the debt is gone! She loves helping other people work toward eliminating the credit card beast! Erin has many responsibilities regarding education at YNAB including the monthly newsletter, maintaining the inline help, video tutorials, coaching, and teaching the free online classes. In her spare time, Erin enjoys vegetable gardening, hiking, music, and spending time with family and friends. She lives in southern Maine in a 200-year-old farmhouse that she has been renovating since the dawn of time.
Todd Educator/Coach
Todd enjoys organizing things, but didn’t know he loved budgeting until he found You Need a Budget. Once he did, he stopped spending more than he was taking in (and liked it so much, he spent hours in front of his computer just staring into the beautiful budget screen just waiting for something to enter). A formal educator by day, Todd enjoys coaching, collaborating, and helping others meet their goals. Combining all these passions as it does, his position as a YNAB Coach is a dream come true. Todd provides coaching, teaches online classes, and pitches in wherever else he’s needed! When he’s not teaching, learning, or budgeting, Todd loves woodworking, gardening, running (or, more correctly, fighting off injuries from and going to physical therapy related to running), and sometimes just sitting. Most of all he loves spending time with his wife and three kids in Massachusetts.
Andrea Quality Assurance
Dubbed the “YNAB QA MD,” Andrea trades her stethoscope in after hours in order to work on You Need a Budget—making her best diagnosis on the bug reports submitted by users. In her Quality Assurance role, she assists in testing potential new fixes to be sure they are ready when released. She delights in greeting each customer and attending to their questions when they write in, fostering the feeling that YNAB is responsive to users and cares about their ultimate financial health. When she’s not at the bedside of her patients and takes time to look up from her laptop, Andrea dotes on sushi and guacamole (lucky for her she lives in the Desert Southwest!) and has tremendously enjoyed world travel. She is passionate about modern Celtic music and the architecture and interior design of the high-end 1950s. Most of all, what makes her day is making yours better by keeping YNAB healthy for you!
Anne Executive Assistant
Anne thoroughly enjoys her position as You Need a Budget’s Executive Assistant, helping out where ever she’s needed—including research, writing, reservations, and impromptu sandwich-runs. :) Originally from AZ, Anne settled in MA after securing her degree in English at Brigham Young University, several years ago. Wholly intending to write creative literature, she never expected to get her start in the world of finance and budget talk! When Anne isn’t playing YNAB’s “Girl Friday,” she spends her time performing musical theater, seeking adventure, and eating copious amounts of pizza.
Malisa Educator
Every time she turns around, Malisa ends up teaching something. Hailing from Southern California, she teaches high school by day, and YNAB webinars by night. Malisa has also worked in offices, restaurants and retail--experiences she feels give her greater perspective while instructing others on how to use YNAB. Malisa has no kids (only 160 a day that aren’t hers), five pets, and a fluctuating love for gardening (she gets discouraged by ground squirrels, rabbits, and birds). She enjoys hiking, photography, and tennis. She also loves cooking. She and her husband enjoy taking road trips--generally centered around food.
Angela Customer Service
Angela is a faithful YNABer who first discovered the program a year and a half ago. She knew it was special when she and her husband stuck to the budget for the first time in their nine years of marriage. Now a member of the YNAB team, Angela loves answering customers’ emails, their queries on the forum, and helping them reach their financial goals. Her background is in Electrical Engineering and Software Development. She hopes to have her teaching degree in the next couple of years. When Angela isn’t working, she’s still working. Three kids under the age of five keep her busy! Cooking, doing home renovation projects, and “organizing” help her stay sane and happy.
Graham Mobile Developer
Graham is YNAB's Android developer. He discovered YNAB after trying every other personal finance package out there and realised none of them made sense. He discovered Android after trying every other mobile phone platform out there and realised none of them made sense, either. Based in the beautiful west of Scotland, Graham has a wife, a young daughter, and another baby on the way. His favourite hobby is learning to fly small planes around the countryside--an activity which never would have been possible without YNAB. He is a passionate fan of anything related to aviation, Formula 1 motor racing, and listening to ridiculously complicated progressive rock music where one song can sometimes last over an hour (great value for money).
Adam Designer
Adam is responsible for designing all things YNAB. With over a decade of experience in multi-disciplinary design, he currently focuses more on branding and interactive work (websites, apps, games). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jenn, and their greyhound named Cleo. Adam enjoys riding bikes, photography, exploring the LA food scene, video games (playing and making) and mid-century modern architecture.
Lee Educator
Lee enjoys teaching the online webinars at YNAB. He sometimes moonlights as a project manager at a nuclear power plant in Minnesota...(ok, that’s actually his full-time job). Lee is an avid golfer and his YNAB forum handle, Turf_Hacker, tells you everything you need to know about his golfing skills. He’s been married to a wonderful woman for 28 years and has three kids. When not managing projects, teaching online YNAB classes, or golfing, Lee does some side work as a sound technician (runs the mixer board) and occasionally plays drums in a charity band with his co-workers.
Vesna Quality Assurance
After over two decades of testing for startupsand small businesses, Vesna was introduced to an opportunity at YNAB. Not only was it the best written QA/Test posting she'd read (true story!), but the people, methodologies, and enthusiasm were right up her alley. Meaningful software that really makes a difference in peoples lives? Sign her up! Now she spends her time admiring code written by various YNAB developers, and helping make sure it's running smoothly. Over the years, Vesna and her husband, Mike, collected a mortgage, some loans, and three boys. After a purge, and selling everything they owned--house included--they started traveling globally in January 2011. They've managed to get rid of the mortgage, and nearly all the debt. The kids seem to be hanging around....but they are value added, so it's all good. Vesna and her family have no fixed address. Instead, they perpetually travel around the world whilst working in their passions, and world-schooling.
Jeff Mobile Developer
Jeff is a recovering classic rock musician, tennis enthusiast, and career software mechanician. He has twenty-plus years of experience with the likes of Apple, EMC and Amazon and a particular passion for mobile development. He and his wife, Lisa, have four children and split their time between San Francisco and Las Vegas. Jeff came to You Need a Budget because: “Having really struggled to get a handle on my own finances, I realized just how much the YNAB method and software genuinely help people, and I knew it would be wonderful to contribute to something so positive."
George Developer
George has never been one to follow the beaten path. He worked as a skydiving instructor with over 3,500 skydives and 45 cumulative hours of free fall time. He earned a Masters degree in Physical Therapy, then shelved his degree to begin his career as a software developer. Later, he signed on as the first employee in a successful startup, and after a five-year run, decided to strike out on his own as an independent developer. Seven years later a friend told him about a job opportunity at YNAB, and immediately he was attracted by their refreshingly unconventional approach to budgeting and running a company. George is responsible for building the back end that will power the next generation of YNAB software. He lives outside of Baltimore, Maryland, with his wonderful wife, Kim, two children, and spirited dog, Tucker. When he's not sitting in front of a keyboard, he enjoys riding his bikes on the road and trails.
Ronna Educator
After moving from Wisconsin to New York City for grad school, Ronna quickly realized the envelope method of budgeting she'd been using--with actual pouches, cash, and paper charts--wasn't working with her new on-the-go, urban lifestyle. She searched for a way to upgrade her budgeting system to the 21st century, discovered YNAB, and became an instant devotee! YNAB has made it possible for Ronna and her husband--who's also a graduate student--to live comfortably in the big, bad, expensive city on very limited income while still building savings (with a purpose, of course). She especially loves YNAB's flexibility. Even after years of being a budgeter, she always felt "bad" at it, until Rule #3 taught her that adapting her budget to her ever-changing priorities was the right way to do things! When she's not raving about YNAB, Ronna spends her time reading, researching, writing, and teaching about women's health so she can earn her PhD and become a college professor. She also really loves doing yoga, beadwork, cooking, and spending time with her husband, friends, and family.