Frank Mazza sums up his greatest leadership lesson directly and succinctly: Always listen, learn and teach.
“You learn along the way that it doesn’t matter the seniority level, whether it be CEO, VP, manager or, heck, even intern,” he said. “Getting advice, tips, strategies from individuals can open your mind to strengthen your existing ideas. In addition, teaching provides the same or very similar value. As you teach, you will receive questions, and that also has the potential to give you some new ideas on how to rework existing strategies or processes.”
Mazza applies those lessons in his current role as chief marketing officer for EvoShare. EvoShare is a B2B2C technology company that created the infrastructure to move cash-back savings to the financial industry through consumers’ everyday spending. Cash-back is not new, but sending cash-back dollars to financial accounts to increase long-term savings for the American worker is. The destinations for that cash back include individual retirement accounts/Roth IRAs, 529 plans, student loans, emergency savings, brokerage accounts, health savings accounts and 401ks.
The company aims to address the savings problem in the U.S., especially among low- and middle-income families. EvoShare cites studies showing the average person in the U.S. is unable to cover an unexpected $400 expense. “EvoShare is essentially a pipeline between the retail and financial industries, allowing consumers to find new money in the form of cash back from retail spending they are already doing,” the company said.
Mazza worked for five years in the healthcare industry before switching to finance. At EvoShare, Mazza helped to fix one of the company’s biggest issues, which was user acquisition. He developed a solution that would leverage partners to participate and auto-enroll users at scale. The new strategy gave the company access to over five million users and counting. EvoShare is working on a collaboration with a top three financial services company and one of the largest rewards programs, which will give it access to enroll more than 150 million users.
Mazza holds over 20 licenses and certifications relating to digital transformation, analytics and social media. He has consulted globally with over 50 companies, including one of the largest printer manufacturers in Japan and a prominent healthcare technology company in India. He also authored an Amazon best seller, “The Digital Trifecta,” and is a former editor and producer for NFL.com.
Mazza comes from a family of entrepreneurs. His late grandfather, Francesco Augustine Mazza Sr., was an Italian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in the 1930s and shined shoes to support his family of 10. Mazza’s father took over the family street vending business and elevated it, using the business to teach Mazza how to market and sell hot dogs, pretzels and T-shirts to pay for college.
“Failure was never an option for my lineage of entrepreneurs, and neither would it be for me,” Mazza said.