# Clay Wilkes

> Clay Wilkes founded Galileo Financial Technologies in 2000 after an earlier career in communications and voice technology. He led the largely bootstrapped payments infrastructure business through its 2019 institutional funding and 2020 acquisition by SoFi, then moved from CEO to vice chair in 2021. With his wife Marie, he co-founded Red Crow Foundation and supported the University of Utah’s Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy through a $20 million founding gift.

- **Role:** Co-founder at Red Crow Foundation
- **Organizations:** Galileo Financial Technologies, Red Crow Foundation, Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, Galileo Foundation, I-Link, SoFi (former board member), Sperry, IBM, Novell
- **Education:** University of Oregon, Brigham Young University
- **Known for:** Built Galileo into payments infrastructure serving multiple digital banking and fintech businesses., Led Galileo through a $77 million institutional financing in 2019 and a $1.2 billion SoFi acquisition in 2020., Founded I-Link and authored voice-over-IP patents.

## Career timeline

- **Before 1994** — Worked on communications and operating systems at Sperry, IBM and Novell.
- **1994** — Founded I-Link, a voice-over-IP business; later took it public and authored VoIP patents.
- **2000** — Founded Galileo after approximately six years of retirement.
- **2005** — Launched the Galileo Foundation with his wife Marie.
- **2019** — Galileo announced a $77 million Series A led by Accel, with Ryan Smith participating.
- **2020** — SoFi announced its $1.2 billion acquisition of Galileo in April; the acquisition closed in May.
- **2021** — Derek White succeeded him as Galileo CEO in June; Wilkes moved to vice chair. Co-founded Red Crow Foundation with Marie.
- **2022** — Clay and Marie’s $20 million gift through Red Crow Foundation established the Wilkes Center at the University of Utah.

## Achievements

- Built Galileo into payments infrastructure serving multiple digital banking and fintech businesses.
- Led Galileo through a $77 million institutional financing in 2019 and a $1.2 billion SoFi acquisition in 2020.
- Founded I-Link and authored voice-over-IP patents.
- With Marie Wilkes, provided the $20 million founding gift for the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — The fourth annual summit of the center co-founded by Clay and Marie Wilkes convened around 350 participants and displayed 60 student research posters; the university reported that the scholars program had connected 215 undergraduates with faculty research.
- **2025-06** — The Wilkes Center named Fielding Norton managing director and John Lin scientific director as founding director William Anderegg prepared to step down.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tcwilkes/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/claygalileo

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/clay-wilkes
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21