Mr. Andrew Thornhill is an American businessman who has been working in Georgia since 2007 and who has been living in Tbilisi, Georgia full-time since January 2016. Andrew has extensive experience with the Georgian government and Georgian banks, the laws and licenses of payment systems and the rules and regulations of global money movement.
Andrew has worked in the online and alternative payment business since 1999 as a banker, web-based merchant, agent/ISO and as part of global payments companies. More than $10 billion USD in transactions have passed through the payment systems that Andrew has created, managed and overseen.
Andrew has lived and worked in over a dozen countries around the world – mostly in Eastern Europe - and has extensive experience with creating and leading business teams that focus on software programming specializing in payments, systems integration and training. Andrew speaks conversational Russian and has led business teams that speak Georgian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian.
Andrew has lectured and given speeches about blockchain and crypto currencies in the USA (Chicago and Detroit), Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Taiwan and Korea. Andrew is often featured by Forbes Georgia and local television and media.
Andrew also owns a payment company that specializes in digital currency to fiat exchanges, a creative marketing company in Georgia that specializes in delivering digital content through social media, an IT consulting business and has invested in local businesses of Georgia such as a female led natural wine company and the only natural charcuterie making company in Georgia.
Andrew graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and Russian State Humanities University in Moscow, Russia with degrees in Political Science and Russian Language and Civilization. Andrew enjoys trying new restaurants, exploring the bio-wine and slow food movement of Georgia, sleeping late and recharging at his church.