Timothy Hwang

Early life and education

Hwang is the son of immigrants from Korea and was born in East Lansing, MI and raised in Potomac, MD. He graduated from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School in Rockville, MD before attending the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, focusing his coursework and research on labor economics and technological innovation. He was known in high school for his commitment to academic work becoming one of two State Scholars in Maryland At Princeton, he worked on policies to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs on campus and in the community. In 2009, he was named as Time magazine and Bentley University's Tomorrow25, for his "leadership and creativity to make the world a better place".

Entrepreneur

Hwang first came to prominence as a young entrepreneur when at the age of 14, he founded Operation Fly, Inc., which he founded after a trip to Guatemala. He quickly gained national prominence and eventually won the Ernst and Young Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Greater Washington Area at the age of 17. The organization was best known for its "Sheets for Streets" program that handed out blankets to the homeless and "Packs for Backs" programs that handed out backpacks filled with school supplies to underprivileged children.

In 2010, after leaving Operation Fly, Inc., Hwang founded Articulance Consulting Group as well as an analytics tool called Moochr, which was sold in early 2012 for an undisclosed amount. He is currently working to revitalize the foundation/non-profit Feed to Read by acting as the part-time Executive Director, working with local leaders on primary education and child hunger issues in Central America.

In 2013, he announced that he would be leaving the NYA to found FiscalNote. FiscalNote develops real-time legislative predictive capabilities as well as enterprise collaboration and visualization tools for government relations professionals and is used by several Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. The startup has raised over $31 million to date from Jerry Yang, Mark Cuban, Renren, and New Enterprise Associates.

In 2015, FiscalNote and Hwang were the subjects of a Columbia Business School case study.

Advocacy and public service

Hwang's advocacy has revolved around access to public education, support for entrepreneurship, and youth issues. He began his work in politics working as a field organizer intern for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential campaign and other local races, eventually serving as the head of the High School Democrats in Maryland, supporting the election efforts of Frank Kratovil, Chris Van Hollen, and Donna Edwards.

At age 17, Hwang was elected by middle and high school students to serve as the Student Member on the Board of Education of Montgomery County Public Schools. He was an outspoken member of the School Board, known for his many town halls, usage of social media, and protests against the proposed $137.7 million cut to public education funding and has been noted as a "rising star" among Asian-American politicians. He was most well known for the controversial elimination of "a policy that gave students a failing grade after five unexcused absences", his work to leverage youth political power through a "Youth Slate", and his attempts to legally give students a larger voice in the school system. He appeared on ABC and Fox News fighting for expanded funding for public education. His much criticized proposal for an expanded youth vote in the Maryland State Legislature ultimately died in the Senate on a procedural vote. In 2012, he was appointed to serve as the Commissioner for the Commission for Juvenile Justice by the Montgomery County Council. He also heads up the Cross Pacific Education Initiative (CPEI) as the Co-Chair, "creating forums for the exchange of ideas regarding education policy and practices between Asia and the Americas".

Hwang is also known for his work to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs, especially in Maryland and local governments, serving as the Co-Chair of the Jumpstart Maryland coalition of startups, where he was a strong proponent of Governor Martin O'Malley's proposals for a state-run early stage venture capital fund and expanded access to technology transfers in federal laboratories.

Currently, he is writing a book on global youth trends and unemployment, that was originally set to be released in the Spring of 2013 but has since been delayed.

National Youth Association

In 2010, Hwang founded a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization, the National Youth Association (NYA) with the intention of creating an organization that "represented our generation’s ability to play a significant role in politics and society at-large and a chance to demonstrate that we won’t be sidelined." According to the NYA, the organization is a "coalition representing 750,000 youth in the United States", although it is no longer active.

The organization concentrated its efforts on creating a youth Super PAC as well as a youth credit union. The organization was behind a widely publicized campaign regarding the bullying of a Chicago teen as well as a "Claim Your Future" campaign associated with progressive groups such as Credo Mobile, SEIU, Rock The Vote and LIUNA and against organizations such as American Crossroads. In 2013, Hwang announced that he would not be renewing his term.