John Paasonen

Co-founder & CEO of Maxwell

John co-founded Excellence in Giving with Al Mueller in 2002 shortly after graduating from Taylor University. In 2005, John left to pursue his MBA at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. John joined American Express upon earning his degree and moved to London, where he held a number of global partnership and general management roles. While in London, he also founded and oversaw Faith & Finance, an initiative to build stronger ties across the financial services and banking industries in the city. John joined PayPal to lead Corporate Strategy for PayPal's North America, Payments and Global Credit businesses. In this role, John advised the senior executives on the strategic direction of the digital payments company and led cross-functional growth initiatives. 

In 2015 John started Maxwell, a venture-backed start-up focused on making the mortgage experience simple, human and intuitive. The company is based in Denver, Colorado. In 2021, John received the Housing Wire Vanguard Award for his work at Maxwell.

John is married to Meghan and they have three sons: Finn, Luke, and Daniel.