About Kurt Burnett

Beginning as a young man Kurt owned and operated a fence contracting business.  While supporting a growing family he attended college over a period of many years and completed his first degree when over age 40.
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He has worked in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors in multiple industries, and has specialized training & experience in credit counseling, crisis intervention, human resources, management & supervision, and real estate.  He has held professional certifications in human resources, credit counseling, housing counseling, and credit education.

While working for the former Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Lafayette, a member agency of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Kurt conducted a conservatively-estimated 3,500 in-person financial counseling sessions with individuals and couples, and administered an ongoing caseload of more than 100 debt management program clients.

Approved by the Department of Justice Executive Office for U.S. Trustees to perform bankruptcy counseling and education in accordance with federal law, he counseled nearly 1,000 bankruptcy filers and provided debtor education for approximately 100.  He also provided court-ordered financial counseling and education for those convicted of check deception and for individuals reentering society following years of incarceration.

For seven years Kurt was a volunteer crisis interventionist and trainer for the Lafayette Crisis Center.  During this time he participated in training and supervision of an estimated 300 adults of diverse backgrounds in preparation for 24/7/365 in-person and telephone crisis intervention and information & referral.  He was a member of the agency's speaker group, and he chaired the committees for the center’s first accreditation by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems and its first certification by the American Association of Suicidology.  He later served on the agency's board of directors, including a term as treasurer.

In 2003 he initiated the Lafayette chapter of the Business and Professional Exchange, the first of five chapters that would be formed outside of the Indianapolis area.  Beginning in 2006 Kurt taught college-level courses in business law, business office procedures, economics, human relations, and psychology.  In 2008 he organized the Tippecanoe Area Economic Education Coalition (TAEEC), best known locally for introducing the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Money Smart program to the Tippecanoe area.

Over the years he has developed great enthusiasm for financial counseling, financial education, and for the study of consumer behavior.  In 2012 he began teaching personal finance and student success courses (online and in the classroom) for Ivy Tech Community College, the largest public postsecondary institution in Indiana the largest singly-accredited statewide community college system in the nation.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Purdue University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Indiana Wesleyan University.  Other education includes the Ivy Tech Community College Management & Supervisory Institute, and from 1998 to 2018 he has completed the United Way of Greater Lafayette Peer/Union Counseling Program three times.  Professional memberships have included the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the Tippecanoe Area Human Resources Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society for Training & Development, and the American Fence Association.

Kurt is still married to his first wife of about forty years and neither appears to have an immediate plan for changing this.  The couple has three adult children, including two who have lived and worked outside of the U.S. but have thankfully returned.  They have four grandchildren.

• Interview link: April 2009 (WLFI video).
• January 2010 "Holiday credit card debt coming due" (WLFI): "Education is the key, because creditors are still going to figure out ways to get in our pockets and it's up to us to be able to say no. The new credit card law is not going to make consumers safe. The educated consumer is going to be the key to success," said Burnett.