by Regina Jones
From Boise State to TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions: A Boise State EMBA Success Story
Jason Crawforth, a 2008 alumnus from Boise State University’s first Executive MBA cohort (EMBA) has recently been honored with the distinguished TIME Magazine Best Invention of 2025 Award in the Crypto & Blockchain category. This recognition highlights Crawforth’s work as Founder and CEO of SWEAR.
SWEAR is a technology company focused on digital media security and authentication. SWEAR creates a distinct fingerprint for each video it records on the blockchain, allowing for an increased level of content integrity. In an age of AI Deepfakes and manipulated video content, SWEAR helps bring trust, authenticity and verified digital proof back to media files.
In response to receiving the award, Crawforth expressed gratitude for the supportive environment fostered by the EMBA program. “The Boise State EMBA program bridged my founder instincts with the operating rigor SWEAR needed to scale. The broad array of coursework helped ground my ability to create a viable go-to-market strategy.”
Crawforth shared that he started SWEAR after watching trust collapse around digital evidence. In security, journalism, and the courts, the question had shifted from “Is this fake?” to “How can we prove it’s real?”
The relevance of the EMBA curriculum impacts Crawforth’s work today: “The coursework in law and ethics helped frame my focus on court-durable authenticity. The negotiations and leadership coursework proved invaluable in enterprise sales and partner integrations. Just as important, the program taught me to explain complex tech in clear, testable narratives to help turn SWEAR from strong tech into a disciplined, scalable company.”
For current and future EMBA students, Crawforth offers valuable advice for those looking to make an impact in cutting-edge fields like blockchain and AI. “Chase problems that matter, treat integrity as strategy, and use Boise State as a proving ground for both character and skill.” His journey from EMBA student to TIME Magazine honoree exemplifies the program’s potential to shape leaders who not only innovate but also lead with purpose and integrity.
Learn more about Jason and his entrepreneurial journey on the SWEAR blog.