Carol Roth

Carol Roth, born Carol J. Schneiderman Roth in 1973 in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, has established a multifaceted career spanning investment banking, authorship, and media. She attended Deerfield High School and later graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. Her early life experiences, including the loss of her mother and step-mother to cancer, influenced her later work, notably the creation of the Future File® legacy planning system. Roth embarked on her professional journey in 1995 as a financial analyst at Montgomery Securities, a San Francisco-based investment bank, becoming an officer of the firm by age 25. This early exposure to high-level finance laid the groundwork for her subsequent achievements as a ‘recovering’ investment banker, during which she facilitated over $2 billion in capital raising and mergers & acquisitions and continues to invest in private companies.

Roth is a recognized advocate for entrepreneurship and small business. Her influence in this sector is evidenced by her consistent recognition as a Top 100 Small Business Influencer by Small Biz Trends from 2011 to 2015. She has served as an event moderator for significant gatherings such as the New York Times Small Business Summit in 2012. Her commitment to empowering entrepreneurs is also reflected in her role as a business advisor and director, serving on both public and private technology company boards. Beyond her advisory capacities, Roth is a prolific author, with three books to her name, two of which became New York Times bestsellers: ‘The Entrepreneur Equation’ and ‘You Will Own Nothing.’ Her second book, ‘The War on Small Business,’ critically examined the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic implications for small businesses.

Carol Roth has also garnered significant visibility as a media personality, making regular appearances on national cable television networks including Fox Business, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. She was a judge on Mark Burnett’s ‘America’s Greatest Makers’ on TBS and a weekly panelist on ‘Bulls & Bears.’ Her television presence extends to recurring roles on programs like ‘Cavuto Coast-to-Coast,’ ‘Making Money with Charles Payne,’ and ‘Varney&Co.’ In radio, she hosted ‘The Noon Show’ on WGN Radio from January to June 2013 and has acted as a fill-in host for various stations in Chicago and New York. She contributes columns and articles to publications such as FoxNews.com, FoxBusiness.com, and Entrepreneur.com, solidifying her status as a respected voice in business and economics.