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A N DRÉ
'Wild Talent'
Aer nine-figure sale of ad tech company, Swanston eyes next big
thing as philanthropist, angel investor and serial entrepreneur
>>
BY HARRIET JONES
"I had probably as diverse an upbringing as I think anybody
could possibly have in America, period," said André Swanston.
He's describing his neighborhood in the Bronx, during the 1980s.
"I grew up with a lot of West Indian, Caribbean families. Puerto
Rican, Dominican Republic, Colombian, Mexican. I had a lot of
friends that were Albanian, Yugoslavian, people that came over
from Vietnam, Laos."
His own parents had emigrated from St. Kitts and Nevis in the West
Indies, "the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere," he said.
One thing his parents always stressed: "Academics was every-
thing," Swanston said.
Swanston excelled at track and would go on to be a Division I ath-
lete at UConn. "My parents were supportive of sports, but it was not
important at all," he recalls. "Education was mandatory."
André Swanston
successfully sold his
ad tech company for
nine figures. Now he's
planning to invest some
of that money in new
ventures, including a
proposed professional
soccer stadium and team
in Bridgeport.
PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER
