Entrepreneur Returns to UCF to Master AI and Fintech

When most teenagers were worried about prom in 2008, Alex Hubenthal was opening his first brokerage account during the worst financial crisis in generations.

He saw opportunity where others saw disaster. That instinct has defined his career ever since.

Hubenthal graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2013 with a finance degree, driven by a mission to understand why the recession devastated families like his own. Just two years later, he co-founded a data analytics firm with fellow UCF graduates, bringing enterprise-grade analytics to small businesses at prices they could afford.

The venture earned him a spot on Business North Carolina magazine's innovation cover story in 2016. He was just getting started.

Over the next decade, Hubenthal founded multiple firms focused on data analytics and finance, launched a financial literacy podcast, and wrote a book helping small business owners succeed. In 2022, he became vice president of finance for ryco.io, an educational startup where he built the company's entire financial strategy from scratch.

Now he's testing an automated system that manages the company's payables with built-in safeguards and audit trails. It's designed to let ryco.io scale without adding headcount.

But Hubenthal recognized something familiar: another massive shift was coming, and he didn't have all the tools he needed. So the successful entrepreneur did something unexpected—he went back to school.

He enrolled in UCF's financial technology master's program to understand how AI will transform business. The decision reflects the same instinct that made him invest during a recession and adopt cloud accounting when it was still new.

The Ripple Effect

Hubenthal's return to campus inspired Barry S. Miller, a 1995 UCF graduate, to donate $50 million to the College of Business. The gift will strengthen UCF's programs in fintech, AI, and business innovation for students like Hubenthal who dare to lean into change.

The fintech program connected Hubenthal with nearly 30 students from four continents. Just weeks into the program, he built a portfolio optimization tool for his own retirement account that simulated 1 million market days and processed almost 4,000 years of data in under three seconds.

"UCF doesn't just educate you," Hubenthal says. "It amplifies who you are and prepares you to make a difference."

The small-town kid from North Carolina who started investing in a crisis now consults with business leaders in boardrooms worldwide, and he's betting his next chapter is just beginning.