For 2015 Weatherford Award winner Tim Hildebrandt, the reason for taking on a new career challenge was quite, well, Simple.

“For me, it was just the mission of the company,” said Hildebrandt, the director of finance at mobile and online banking pioneer Simple Finance in Portland. “Banking has always been kind of a little bit broken; banks profit from customer confusion with overdraft fees and other things like that. I’d always felt like there was a better way to bank, a better way to empower customers to make better decisions, to give them more information about their spending, to help them budget, to set goals, and that’s what Simple was set up for.”

Hildebrandt, the son of Oregon State alumni Scott and Diane Hildebrandt, graduated from OSU in 2005, having majored in finance and accounting, and went to work for KPMG. He spent more than seven years at the professional services giant, with many of his clients technology companies, and the tech aspect of Simple, along with its consumer-first mind set, are what got him interested when fellow Beaver alum and Weatherford Award winner Ryan Hildebrand came calling two years ago.

Hildebrand was a one-man finance department for the startup and recruited Hildebrandt to be Simple’s controller as the company grew.

“To work for a tech company at the cutting edge of mobile banking/Internet banking is fantastic for me,” said Hildebrandt, who added director of finance to his title 11 months ago. “Simple has a product I’m really excited about it, and the people here, like Josh (Reich) and Shamir (Karkal), the founders, I really loved their vision.”

One of Hildebrandt’s biggest tasks so far at Simple was helping pave the way for a February 2014 acquisition by Spanish banking heavyweight BBVA, which paid $117 million for the company but allows it to operate independently.

“Tim is an excellent accountant, and what he was able to do was take those excellent skills and experiences and bring it into an innovative environment and apply it directly to something that didn’t exist,” College of Business Dean Ilene Kleinsorge said.

As he’s built his career, Hildebrandt has remained in close contact with the university he’s felt connected with since attending his first Beaver football game as a toddler and is on the College of Business’ advisory board for accounting.

“Oregon State was integral for me, just a great place to go to school,” said Hildebrandt, who graduated from Westview High School in Beaverton and now lives in southwest Portland. “I really love giving back to the university. The students at OSU are the people who will replace me, or be on my staff, or be the people in the community I’m a part of. Just making it constantly better for those kids and giving opportunities for them to be successful is what I really care about.”

Hildebrandt feels humbled by his Weatherford recognition.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “The past winners are so accomplished, I don’t think I’m in the same category as those guys yet. But I’m honored to be recognized, and excited. Simple is really innovative – it’s a whole new banking experience designed to help people worry less about their money and give people the tools they need to accomplish their financial goals.”