Miles Lasater
Chairman

As Founder and Chairman, Miles Lasater has provided leadership to take Higher One from an idea among a few college students to a publically traded company serving over 13 million students. From inception to 2013, he was responsible for delivering on customer, client, employee and shareholder expectations – the doing and getting it done part. Now as Founder and Chairman, Miles leads the efforts on innovation, product development and marketing growth.  Along the way to a 2010 IPO, Higher One was recognized as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. magazine and Entrepreneur magazine.

Prior to founding Higher One, Miles was a member of the invention team at Walker Digital, where he worked on intellectual property for companies such as Priceline and Retail DNA. (They actually called him something like an “inventor intern” and paid him to read about stuff he was interested in anyway.)  Previously, he worked in Silicon Valley as a computer consultant (a fancy way of saying he worked with computer servers and spent a lot of time on ladders or hands/knees installing wiring). During college, he was Rookie of the Year at Flying Colors Painting where he managed a residential painting franchise.

Active in the New Haven community, Miles is on the board of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and has served as a member of the Port Authority of New Haven and Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility. Recipient of the Elm-Ivy Award, Miles was recognized by the Mayor of New Haven and the President of Yale for strengthening partnerships among the New Haven and Yale communities. As an extension of his interest in civic life, social entrepreneurship and technology, he co-founded SeeClickFix, a Government 2.0 start-up which is growing quickly. He has served as volunteer tax preparer and is the creator of Cluefest, an annual city-wide scavenger hunt. (Yes, it’s silly, but fun!  He invites you to join in some time.)

While at Yale, Miles founded the Yale Entrepreneurial Society and launched Yale’s annual business plan competition.  Over the years, Miles has stayed involved with YES, and the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute which he also helped start. Miles enjoys swapping yarns with other entrepreneurs and occasionally will make angel investments.  He often tells his wife this is a less expensive hobby than say sailing. (We’ll see.)

He was named 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for New England. Miles has appeared in numerous media including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Inc. Magazine, University Business, CNBC and books like UpStarts and Next Generation Democracy.

He was born in Texas, grew up in San Francisco and attended high school at Phillips Academy Andover.  Miles has a BA in computer science from Yale. Miles is passionate about reading, learning, family and helping people achieve their goals.

More on Miles on LinkedIn or on Twitter @MilesHigherOne.