Scott Thompson

Chief Executive Officer Tuition.io

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Scott Thompson is Chief Executive Officer of Tuition.io, a company that runs employer-paid student loan repayment and tuition assistance benefits. He took the job in late 2016 after a career mostly spent in payments technology. He was a technology chief at Visa USA and its Inovant subsidiary, then chief technology officer and later president of PayPal, and later chief executive of ShopRunner. He also led Yahoo! as CEO and President for four months in 2012. At Tuition.io he has overseen a shift from student loan contributions alone to administering tuition assistance as well, including a card that pays education providers directly.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of Tuition.io since December 2016.
• Led the national rollout of CourseCa$h, Tuition.io’s direct-pay virtual card for tuition assistance, announced in April 2026.
• CEO of ShopRunner for about four years before joining Tuition.io.
• Chief Executive Officer, President and director of Yahoo! from January to May 2012.
• President of PayPal from January 2008 to January 2011, after three years as its senior vice president and chief technology officer.
• Earlier chief technology officer of Visa USA and executive vice president of technology solutions at Visa’s Inovant subsidiary.

Professional Journey

Thompson studied business administration with a major in accounting at Stonehill College. Tuition.io’s 2016 announcement says he held positions at Coopers & Lybrand and Barclays Global Investors in addition to Visa. From 1998 he was chief technology officer and executive vice president of technology and support services at Visa USA. In September 2001 he moved to Inovant, LLC, a Visa USA subsidiary, as executive vice president of technology solutions.

He joined PayPal, then a division of eBay, in February 2005 as senior vice president and chief technology officer. He became president in January 2008 and held that role until January 2011. Tuition.io later said PayPal’s revenue grew from $1 billion to $4.4 billion during his time there.

Yahoo! appointed him chief executive officer, president and a director effective 9 January 2012. In early May 2012 the company said its published biography of him had wrongly listed a computer science degree alongside his accounting degree, and that its board would review the matter. Yahoo! filed on 14 May that he had resigned from all positions effective 12 May 2012, with no severance, as part of a settlement with the activist shareholder Third Point.

He then became chief executive of ShopRunner, where Tuition.io says he led the expansion of its retail and member network over about four years. In December 2016 Tuition.io, then based in Santa Monica, named him CEO. Tuition.io was an early provider of employer contributions toward employees’ student loans. In announcing his appointment it reported a 1,700 percent year-over-year increase in platform participants, and he said he wanted student debt relief to become the norm among employers.

Under his leadership Tuition.io has expanded into tuition assistance administration. In April 2026 it accelerated the national launch of CourseCa$h, a virtual card that pays approved tuition to institutions upfront so employees do not wait for reimbursement, developed with Penn Foster Group. In May 2026 it announced a partnership with edX offering reduced tuition on degree programmes from 25 universities. Tuition.io’s leadership page continues to list him as CEO.

Education

Stonehill College

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Accounting