Tilman is a co-founder and managing partner of Flourish Ventures, an early-stage global venture capital firm that invests in mission-driven entrepreneurs and industry influencers working towards a fair financial system. He serves on the board of a number of portfolio organizations and as chair of the Advisory Council to the U.N. Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance.

Before Flourish, Tilman was a partner at Omidyar Network, where he built the global financial inclusion team. Prior to that, he served for five years as CEO of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a global partnership to advance financial inclusion. Before CGAP, Tilman was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he helped build the global financial services and healthcare practices and worked for more than a decade with leading businesses in North America and India.

Tilman started his professional journey as a journalist in Germany before earning a PhD degree in Economics from the EU-affiliated European University Institute in Italy and joining the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.