Fintech Sandbox Names Rick Barrett Data Partnerships Director

Fintech Sandbox announced the appointment of Rick Barrett as director of data partnerships. He will work part-time managing relationships with the nonprofit’s network of more than 40 data and infrastructure providers and recruiting additional partners.

Barrett spent more than two decades at FactSet in senior roles across analytics, operations and client strategy before serving as Global Head of Investment Management at the London Stock Exchange Group. He holds Chartered Financial Analyst and Financial Risk Manager designations and has nearly 30 years of experience in financial data and analytics. After stepping back from full-time executive roles in late 2024, he worked with startups and provided advisory support to founders.

In the new role Barrett will oversee the existing partner network and help onboard new data providers. He will work directly with startups participating in Fintech Sandbox’s Data Access Residency to support product development and data validation efforts.

Barrett commented, “I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it can be for early-stage founders to access the high-quality data they need to build and validate products. Fintech Sandbox removes that obstacle while also building a real community around its founders.”

Lucas Timberlake, executive director at Fintech Sandbox, noted Barrett’s experience with institutional data and his recent work with founders as reasons he fits the role. Timberlake added that Barrett’s background aligns with the organization’s need to grow and deepen its partner network.

Barrett succeeds David Savage, who retired after serving five months as interim director of data partnerships. Savage had previously served four years as the organization’s data partner manager and helped onboard more than 200 startups while expanding the partner community. Timberlake thanked Savage for his contributions and wished him well in retirement.