Neil Shah leads Start Early’s financial operations, providing strategic leadership to guide the organization’s financial resources. To learn more about how we raise and use funds to advance our mission, visit our financials page.

Before joining Start Early, Neil spent two decades serving as both an outsourced and in-house Chief Financial Officer for non-profit organizations across the United States, with annual budgets ranging from a few million dollars to nearly half a billion dollars in combined government and philanthropic revenue.

Throughout his CFO career, he has implemented audit- and fraud-resistant accounting and budgeting processes, modernized financial software systems to reduce manual work, and guided boards along the organization’s financial roadmap through clear education and storytelling.

Neil is known for being a collaborative partner to leadership teams, bringing a financial perspective while also helping colleagues understand the non-financial aspects of decisions, finding common ground, and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. He sits on the Board of Directors for Camelback Ventures, a non-profit whose mission is to increase access to opportunity for entrepreneurs of color and women by investing in their ventures and leadership.

He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.