Scott Bennett

Background

About Scott Bennett

My passion is helping people improve their lives. I spent over 8 years in the social service industry specializing in personal finance counseling by training and providing direction to organizations who work with low-income clients. I got my feet wet at Fair Credit Foundation, a credit and debt counseling organization, providing unique matched savings accounts to encourage low income clients to save towards buying a first home, starting a small business, or getting an education. It was invigorating seeing people accomplish such huge life goals! I taught our clients core skills for managing their personal finances during our regular workshops. There I learned how much I love training and how transformative it is for people to learn how to take control of their financial lives. It was during this time the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Your Money, Your Goals financial empowerment toolkit was first created. I was selected to hold the first training of the toolkit in Utah. The training was so popular that we had to change locations to accommodate everyone and even hold a second training. I knew that there was something special with this toolkit. I expanded on this experience by joining the ICF consulting team to help the CFPB to train more organizations to use the toolkit. I had the privilege to go to work every day assisting these great organizations from across the USA in helping their clients take control of their financial lives. After that wonderful experience I shifted to the policy world, taking a position with Colorado's Department of Health Care Policy & Financing managing the state's Medicaid benefit's compliance to mental health parity laws. I ensure that behavioral health services are as easy to access as physical health services for our members, through monitoring of the policies and procedures that govern those services. With the COVID-19 public health emergency creating a huge need for behavioral health services, it has been rewarding to work for this agency to remove barriers to accessing those behavioral health services.