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By Andre Showell

Today I covered the White House Summit on Financial Capability and Empowerment. Although it has a lofty name, the idea of the meeting is very simple: Business and communities meet with administration officials to discuss ways to help Americans to become financially savvy.

Listening to people talk for hours on end is not the most eventful undertaking, I had a conversation that, for me, was the most memorable moment.

Author Debra Owens told me about a parking attendant named Mr. John in Baltimore, Maryland who, although earning no more than 12 bucks an hour throughout his career, amassed a net worth of more than a million dollars. Although this man of meager means did not have a fancy White House invite, he is the kind of expert that would truly resonate with the people that the summit attendees are working to reach.

Alongside notables like Gene Sperling, Beverly Johnson and London Fletcher, Mr. John could have stood proudly. The Obama Administration has made a commitment to try and spur a culture of saving and investing. Who better than Mr. John to be the poster child of that effort?

He doesn’t have a lofty title but he “gets it” in a way that many people simply don’t.