Impact Of A Scholarship: Charlie Pinto

Despite opportunities to attend Ivy League schools, former 141-pound wrestler Charlie Pinto made the University of Maryland and the Maryland wrestling room his home.

Pinto was the true definition of a student-athlete, competing as one of the University’s best wrestlers but also treating his education with the same attentiveness that he did with his athletic career. 

Being on scholarship made Pinto’s dreams possible, and he’s grateful to have benefited from such a distinguished honor.

“The first thing I think of about being on scholarship is the pride,” Pinto said. “I think for me, it was pride in helping a program grow. I was in a privileged position, my parents can help a little bit [with paying for college], but just even the idea of not paying for books and paying for my tuition was super helpful. I didn't have as much of a debt burden [after school] as many people do who are not on scholarship.”

After graduating from Maryland, Pinto became a co-founder and CEO of SlidePay, a banking integration system. Pinto built his company from the ground up and sold it to Rocket Lawyer and took a high-ranking position with them. 

Pinto’s professional career boomed because of this, and the former mat technician credits his scholarship with allowing him the opportunity. 

“The thing about my scholarship is that it directly helped me with my professional career,” Pinto said. “It afforded me to leave college without debt. [Because of that] I was able to help my wife with her student loans.” 

Working in banking and with finances, Pinto understands more than most the significance of debt. His lack of it allowed him to take some risks out of college, and they were risks that ended up paying off in a huge way.

“After school, my goal was to start my own business,” Pinto said. “When you have a lot of debt from your tuition, and room and board, and everything else, and just living expenses of going to college, it's really hard to start a business. What [having debt] usually means is that you have to put your entrepreneurship journey on the back burner because you've got to make these monthly debt payments. So, my scholarship afforded me the ability to start my own business a few years after school.”

Pinto’s entrepreneurship journey has taken him all over the country, including California and Texas, investing in over 23 businesses and building up his brand and portfolio as an investor. For nearly the past four years, Pinto has also worked as a senior program manager for Google where he works in customer interactions, domains, and leading a CIO Partner Program. 

So much of Pinto’s work ethic stems from his time as a wrestler because the sport is so physically and emotionally demanding. His athletic gifts were nurtured by the Maryland wrestling staff, but his academic gifts were also very much built up. 

The Stockholm, New Jersey, native credits the entire athletic department for giving him ample resources that he could use to better himself and set him up for success. 

“In terms of support, the entire athletic department at the University of Maryland allows you to get additional coaching and additional help because being a student-athlete is a full-time job,” Pinto said. “Multiple practices per day in addition to classes and studying and then just needing the extra help. When you haven’t eaten anything in a few days, and you haven’t drunk that much water and your brains are kind of not working. During the most important part of finals. Having the tutoring help and support was helpful.”

Pinto believes that this isn’t just a thing that wrestlers recognize, but that every student-athlete at the University of Maryland experiences. 

“I think everyone that's an athlete at the University of Maryland truly understands exactly that. Just getting that extra help to help them in the classroom. Which obviously, if you do well in school, it translates to the real world.”

Now that he’s more than 10 years removed from his college days, Pinto is able to look back extremely fondly of his time at Maryland. He won over 50 dual matches in his career as a Terp, including being a part of the team that captured the 2008 ACC Championship. 

To this day, that remains one of the highlights of his time in College Park.

“I think my fondest time was watching our team win the ACC Championship, for the first time in many, many years in 2008. Watching the team grow watching because of the scholarships afforded to us, a lot of them probably would not have been able to afford college without the scholarships.” 

When reminiscing about his time as a Terp, Pinto kept coming back to the camaraderie that he had with his teammates. Wrestling is an especially grueling sport, one that can break you both physically and mentally. His love for his teammates is palpable, and it’s one of the things that he misses the most about his college days.

“The bond and the brotherhood that you have on the wrestling team, and everyone supporting each other and giving each other tough love, and leaving it all out on the mat with each other and competing with each other [is what I miss],” Pinto said. “When you leave school, you don't have that anymore. You have to adjust to the real world when you’re done being a student-athlete.”

After sitting on the M-Club Board of Directors from 2008-10, Pinto understands the intricacies of what it takes to be an active alum. He also understands the selflessness that the donors and boosters showed in giving him his scholarship.

In delivering a message to those who paid for his schooling, Pinto didn’t hold back in telling them just how much they mean to him and how much they directly impacted not just his life, but lives of countless student-athletes who are chasing their dreams.

“Thank you for supporting student-athletes. The reason why I say thank you is because there is no guarantee that, no matter how hard you work, that you're not going to get put down by an injury or a personal situation. Just like the real world, there is no guarantee. But the only thing that you absolutely need is hard work. Hard work and persistence. [A scholarship] sets you up for, not just a professional career, but for life. Thank you for allowing student-athletes to do that.”