Finance student. Co-founder. Operator in practice.

I'm David Finney, a second-year Finance student at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management, where I've maintained a 3.90 GPA across three consecutive Dean's List semesters. My academic foundation is in quantitative finance: financial modeling, portfolio analysis, macroeconomic research, and the frameworks that drive smart capital allocation.

Alongside the academic track, in August 2025 I co-founded New Wave Cosmetics LLC, a premium sea-salt haircare brand built from scratch with no outside capital. We reached profitability through brick-and-mortar retail distribution at approximately 1,000% per-unit margins and placed a 10,000-unit production order to support e-commerce expansion. The company is active, profitable, and scaling.

I also built Riskr, an adventure discovery platform I designed and developed as a solo project, which grew to 600+ user-submitted locations across 80+ countries with maps, safety ratings, and community-driven content. Riskr showed me what it means to own every layer of a product: strategy, design, development, and community growth.

My professional experience includes an asset management internship at Scarbrough Financial Group in San Rafael, where I authored macroeconomic and sector research reports, built Excel models for portfolio tracking, and shadowed portfolio managers through live allocation decisions. That experience confirmed my interest in finance at the intersection of analysis and applied judgment.

On campus, I serve as Vice President of the Student Entrepreneurs Association, where I plan meetings, coordinate guest speakers, and manage event logistics for 30+ active members. I also served as an academic preceptor for MIS 111 and 112, supporting faculty and grading coursework for 40+ students. In November 2025, I won the BNAD 200 Business Case Competition, presenting consulting-style recommendations to a panel of judges with data-backed financial analysis.

My long-term interests span banking, private equity, venture capital, and company-building. I'm drawn to roles and environments where analytical thinking meets real decision-making, where the work produces tangible outcomes, not just models.

I hold dual U.S. and Slovak (EU) citizenship, speak Spanish at a B2 level, and split my time between Tucson, AZ and San Rafael, CA. Outside of work and school, I'm a competitive water polo player, an avid surfer, and an enthusiast of investment research, blockchain development, and travel.