Howard Dvorkin

Dvorkin founded Consolidated Credit in 1993 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It earned an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau[5] and eventually grew to be one to the largest counseling and consolidation firms.[6]

After watching the organization and clients struggle with credit card debt, Dvorkin concluded, "Learning to live without a credit card is an integral part of financial empowerment....It’s about cash and discipline. Those who don’t use credit cards take money much more seriously than credit card users. The act of physically handing over the dollars and cents to a cashier or waitress generates a feeling of loss."[7]

This opinion has stood in stark contrast to the ever-increasing U.S. consumers’ love of credit cards,[8] and their increasing debt. In 2012, those consumers had an average 3.7 cards and an unpaid balance of over $5,600.[9] Meanwhile, credit card debt totaled nearly $800 billion.

Shocked at these numbers and U.S. consumers’ lack of financial education,[10] Dvorkin announced in 2013 that he was stepping down as Consolidated Credit's spokesperson to launch Debt.com, an educational and news site covering consumer debt with the goal to "build an Angie’s List or a Better Business Bureau solely focused on debt, debt relief products, for all types of debt relief."[11] In 2014, Dvorkin was named to the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.[12][13][14]

Dvorkin is the founder of Parkland Cares, which funded $1,000,000 to provide immediate and long-term funding and awareness for mental health counseling for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors, their families and the community-at-large.[20] Parkland Cares has since broadened its mission to serve the greater South Florida area helping to fund nonprofit mental health and trauma counseling agencies. He was formerly on the executive board of the United Way of Broward County and the former chairman Elect for the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida.[21] He was a founding member of the South Florida American Heart Association board of directors, he was also on the Board of Governors of The H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University.[22]