Peter George is a relationship-first FinTech revenue professional who builds trust by finding common ground. Today he is a Managing Director of Financial Institutions at financial data platform MX.
Born on Cape Cod, Peter was the second of four kids. His dad was a telecom executive and his mom was, as he likes to call it, “the CEO of the household.” Both preached the benefits of team sports and building genuine relationships. When Peter was just two, his family moved to the south of France for a “quick rotation” for his dad’s job…which ended 6 years later. His experience living abroad at a young age helped shape his worldview and he has continued to carry those influences through his life and career.
Throughout childhood and into adulthood, Peter cultivated a passion for sports, where he learned the value of being a team player. This led to him to commit to play football at Wesleyan University, where he also majored in Economics. Off the field he enjoyed math, wanting to pursue a career in business and apply the team-mentality that he appreciated from athletics.
Peter interned in Finance at AGC in Boston and then, through a friend, found an opportunity at PIMCO in New York after graduation. He became an Account Associate on their Global Wealth Management team, an internal rep who partnered with their external account managers out in the field. It was Peter’s job to make dozens of dials, develop thick skin, and sell PIMCO mutual funds to advisors across the Mid-Atlantic region.
After a couple years, Peter got a great opportunity on his sales team to move to Sydney. Unburdened, he took off down under to help build out PIMCO’s business development efforts in APAC. He took the lessons from HQ with a goal to replicate the playbook in Australia. It was his first experience working in a startup-like environment. In an office 10% the size of New York’s footprint, Peter got to try new things. He created a Bonds 101 workshop for advisors that gave him the opportunity to travel around regional Australia teaching the basics of fixed income and the role it plays in investor portfolios. He got to take the initiative from beginning to end and make it his own, from Sydney to Perth. He also worked with the APAC region’s Head of Business Strategy to roll out PIMCO’s Corporate Responsibility Platform to 4 different offices. All on top of his day job!
Peter spent more than 3 years building PIMCO down in Sydney and they were huge years for him professionally and personally. Living far from home for the first time as an adult, meeting new people, and fully ingraining himself in the Australian culture were foundational experiences.
Then he returned to the Boston area to figure out what was next. He loved finance and was looking for a role where he could apply his traditional background to technology, with the hope of having a bigger impact.
MX is a data company building an infrastructure platform for credit unions, banks, and FinTechs so that end-users can connect all their financial accounts in one place and derive personalized insights & next best actions. They were building a new Open Finance team to partner with financial institutions and Peter jumped at the chance to build at the intersection of finance and technology,
Peter has helped the MX team evangelize Open Banking, teaching the industry that APIs can help consumers share data with 3rd parties safely and build better products together. More recently, Peter serves as a Managing Director who manages a few of MX’s large relationships (one of which is a Top 5 bank in the U.S.). As the Strategic lead for these critical partnerships, Peter ensures his customers are maximizing their value with MX, and quarterbacks his internal team to deliver on the customers’ strategic objectives and long-term vision.
Becoming a Trusted Advisor
Early in his career, Peter learned that relationships really matter. Being a curious individual who likes to ask questions, he knows there is always something to learn in every interaction, which has driven him to be a better revenue professional. People see his genuine interest in getting to know them and it helps to bring their guard down. We’re all just people!
It comes down to earning trust. One time Peter remembers meeting a banking executive who asked him about a bracelet he wears for a friend he lost to suicide. It led to a discussion about mental health and the executive’s own dealings with the recent loss of a family member.
The conversation pivoted to the sobering stats about financial stress and suicide and their shared passion to have a positive impact on financial health for consumers. Vulnerability and trust – allowing Peter and this banking exec to understand each other’s intentions – was foundational for a strong partnership between their two organizations.
That’s just one interaction though. You have to back it up with results. Show up on time. Prepare for your meetings. From the film room to the board room, Peter takes those extra reps before every big meeting. Becoming a trusted advisor comes down to asking really good questions, having a win-win mentality, doing the little things well and keeping customer problems top of mind throughout the relationship. Then, just run the plays!
3 Career Insights / Learnings
Finding A Good Mentor – “Having consistency with that mentor. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day and lose sight of people that can help guide you in your career. I’ve been lucky to meet weekly with a mentor for the last three years and I look forward to that conversation each week to ground myself and help me think about my career”
Find Your Style – “I consider myself to be introspective and I struggled at times to reconcile being a salesperson and a social introvert. I enjoy being around people but also need time to recharge the batteries. I know now a good salesperson is not measured by their words but by listening to customers and understanding the problems being solved. Being that trusted advisor. Especially in sales, being confident in oneself and a good active listener are most important”
Live & Work Abroad – “It’s really important to see how people operate in different countries. There’s often valuable things that we can bring back to our domestic workforce and there’s no substitute for that real world experience”
Peter aspires to run a revenue generating department at a company or even one day become a CEO. Most of all, Boston is his hometown and he wants to continue to find ways to stay involved with the local community. That’s really important to him. But his most important goal for 2025? Getting married! Great to hear he’s got his priorities straight. For more about Peter you can find him preparing for his upcoming wedding, bringing the future of FinTech to financial institutions, or on LinkedIn. Thanks for sharing. We’re excited to see the Boston area relationships, products, and teams you shape in the coming years!