George Bousis is the founder and CEO of Raise Marketplace Inc. [raise.com], a p2p marketplace to buy and sell gift cards. Founded in 2011 and launched in 2013, today Raise is one of the fastest growing companies in the United States having raised $81MM in funding to date and employing over 130 in Chicago.

George began his career working for his family-owned grocery business, Cermak Fresh Market. Through his maturity within the organization in various leadership roles, he helped grow the business into one of the largest privately held companies in Illinois. Given his operational and technical background, he deployed a loyalty and rewards platform built through predictive shopping algorithms that helped eliminate two major threats to margin: food waste and overstock. This helped the company significantly grow the profitability of the business while expanding to new areas throughout the state. George is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), the Museum of Science and Industry’s Digital Engagement Work Group, a Major Contributor to FWD.us, an Executive Advisory Board Member of Techweek and was recently honored as a Forbes 30 Under 30 candidate for the class of 2015.