# Tom Spann

> Tom Spann is the CEO and co-founder of Brightside, an employer-sponsored service that pairs employees with Financial Assistants to help them navigate money decisions. A Wharton economics graduate, he spent 26 years at Accenture before becoming Accolade’s founding CEO in 2007. He later helped establish Brightside, founded in 2017 and publicly launched in 2018.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Brightside
- **Organizations:** Brightside, Accolade, Accenture
- **Education:** B.S. in Economics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Hatboro-Horsham High School
- **Known for:** Led Accenture’s Products North America operating unit, representing approximately 25% of its North American revenue., Founding CEO of Accolade., Received the 2018 Vistage Leadership Award in Philadelphia.

## Career timeline

- **1981** — Completed studies at Wharton; began his post-college career at Accenture writing software.
- **2007** — Left Accenture after 26 years and became Accolade’s founding CEO.
- **2017** — Co-founded Brightside with a founding group that included Shawn Leavitt, Callum King and Jacky Chiu.
- **2018** — Brightside publicly launched on May 7 with $4 million in seed funding, Comcast as charter customer and Spann announced as CEO.
- **2020** — Brightside raised a $35.1 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.
- **2022** — Brightside announced a $33 million Series B led by Obvious Ventures on November 10.
- **2025** — Brightside ranked No. 137 on the Inc. 5000.

## Achievements

- Led Accenture’s Products North America operating unit, representing approximately 25% of its North American revenue.
- Founding CEO of Accolade.
- Received the 2018 Vistage Leadership Award in Philadelphia.
- Co-founded and led Brightside, ranked No. 137 on the 2025 Inc. 5000.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Appeared with Amazon’s Jack Nickel at a Conference Board event in Chicago; Brightside published its recap on September 28.
- **2026-09** — Amazon reported more than 150,000 hourly employees had used Brightside since 2022.
- **2025-02** — Published an Employee Benefit News article on helping employees manage transportation expenses.

## Links

- Website: https://www.gobrightside.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomspann
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/tomspann

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-spann
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24