H ayes Barnard is an American self-made billionaire who has built his fortune at the intersection of renewable energy and financial technology. He is the founder and CEO of GoodLeap (formerly Loanpal), a leading financial technology platform that provides financing solutions for residential solar power systems and other home efficiency upgrades.
Barnard was a key early executive at the residential solar installer SolarCity (which was later acquired by Tesla). He then founded his own company to address a major bottleneck in the solar industry: the lack of simple and affordable financing for homeowners. GoodLeap's technology platform connects homeowners with a network of lenders, making it easy for them to get loans for solar installations at the point of sale. The company's massive growth in the booming residential solar market has made it a fintech unicorn and turned its founder into a billionaire. He is also the founder of a non-profit that provides solar power to communities in developing countries.
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Hayes Barnard is an American entrepreneur, the self-made billionaire Founder, Chairman, and CEO of GoodLeap (formerly Loanpal), a technology-based finance company specializing in sustainable home-improvement loans. Born in Creve Coeur, Missouri, in 1972, he was raised by a single mother after his father left when he was three.
Barnard attended Central Missouri State on a football scholarship but transferred to the University of Missouri after an early injury, graduating with a degree in management and marketing. His career began with high-energy roles, including manning trade show booths and serving as a sales executive at Oracle in San Francisco during the high-tech boom.
Hayes Barnard's strategic genius was his focus on online residential home loans and the massive, underserved market for sustainable home improvements (solar, energy efficiency). In 2003, he founded Paramount Equity Mortgage (later rebranded to GoodLeap). In 2008, he founded Paramount Solar, which was later acquired by SolarCity for $120 million in 2013, and Barnard served as SolarCity's Chief Revenue Officer.
His focus returned to financing: GoodLeap (which uses a technology-based platform to simplify financing at the point of sale) grew exponentially, financing more than $20 billion in sustainable home-improvement loans by 2024. Barnard is also the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of GivePower, a major non-profit that provides solar-powered clean water and energy systems to underserved communities globally. His immense wealth is tied to the long-term, high-growth demand for clean energy and fintech solutions.
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Founds Paramount Equity Mortgage (later GoodLeap) (Founding 1).
Founds Paramount Solar (Founding 2).
Paramount Solar is acquired by SolarCity for $120 million (Major Exit 1).
Founds GivePower (Philanthropic Founding).
GoodLeap finances more than $20 billion in sustainable home-improvement loans (Financial Milestone).
Continues as Founder, Chairman, and CEO of both GoodLeap and GivePower (Executive Oversight).
Hayes Barnard's wealth is concentrated in his founding and controlling ownership of the private fintech giant, GoodLeap, and his philanthropic enterprise, GivePower.
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Hayes Barnard is a dedicated philanthropist with a dual business/social mission. His structural social impact is tied to GoodLeap's role in accelerating the clean energy transition by making solar financing accessible to millions of homeowners. His GivePower non-profit provides a direct, life-saving contribution by developing clean water and energy systems in 17 countries, reflecting the immense potential of business as a force for global social good.
His personal philanthropy supports various educational and community initiatives. His career is a powerful narrative of a self-made entrepreneur who successfully leveraged the fintech and solar booms to create multi-billion dollar enterprises with a profound social mission.
Hayes Barnard maintains the professional, energetic style of a modern tech CEO. His attire is consistently formal and high-quality, favoring business casual wear. His aesthetic is one of confident, disruptive authority, reflecting his focus on clean energy and fintech innovation.
Residing in Austin, Texas, his luxury is the immense security and autonomy derived from his multi-billion dollar fortune. His life is dedicated to strategic financing, technological automation, and his profound commitment to environmental and humanitarian causes.
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-0.67% | -$37.87M
-0.02% | -$2.37M
This profile is compiled from verified biographical and financial records:
All information is cross-referenced with public sources for accuracy; some narrative sections are AI-assisted summaries.
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