Instructor

Neale Godfrey

Practical Experience:

Neale S. Godfrey is an acknowledged expert on family and children’s finances. She has been in the financial field for over 30 years. Early in her career, Neale became one of the first female executives at The Chase Manhattan Bank in 1972. Later, she became the President of The First Women’s Bank and Founder of The First Children’s Bank.

In 1989, Neale formed her own company, Children’s Financial Network, Inc., whose mission is to educate children—and their parents—about money. Neale has been honored with a #1 New York Times Best Seller, Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children. Neale’s latest book is LIFE, INC: The Ultimate Career Guide for Young People, which includes a Teacher’s Guide, Student Journal and website, all sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation. This program will serve approximately two million middle and high school students. The LIFE, Inc. Video just received the Mercury© Communications Top Gold Award in the category of “Promotional/Documentary” for Outstanding Achievement in Professional Communications.

She is the author of 16 books that deal with money, life skills, and value issues. She developed money curriculum for children, The One and Only Common Sense/Cents Series, and a CD-ROM, Money Town, both created for children grades Pre-K through 9.

Neale empowers women to take charge of their financial lives and has authored two books on that topic: Mom, Inc: Taking Your Work Skills Home and Making Change: A Women’s Guide to Designing her Financial Future.

She has served as a national spokesperson for such companies as: Aetna, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Fidelity, Quaker Oats, Nuveen, and AOL-Time Warner. She is a professional speaker for both domestic and international audiences. Neale often appears as a financial expert on programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNBC, CNN, etc. She also starred in the PBS special, Your Money, Your Children, Your Life.

Neale has been honored with awards such as “Woman of the Year”, “Banker of the Year”, “Child Advocate of the Year”, the “Femme Award” from the United Nations Agency for International Women’s Rights (UNIFEM), and was just awarded “Best 50 Women in Business”. Despite these achievements, what her kids really think is cool is that she was a “question” on both Jeopardy and in The New York Times crossword puzzle! She has also served on a White House Task Force and a Governor’s Task Force as well as on the Board of Directors of The New York Board of Trade, UNICEF, University of Charleston, and YPO. Currently, she is on the Board of Directors of UNIFEM, Morris County NJ Chamber of Commerce, and the Business and Education Together Foundation, Inc.