Hedera

Mance is an experienced technology executive and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of strategic leadership experience in multi-national corporations, government agencies, and high-tech startups, and is Co-Founder and CEO of Hedera Hashgraph. His prior experience includes serving as the Head of Architecture and Labs at Ping Identity, Founder / CEO of two tech startups, the senior executive for product security at a $1.7B revenue organization, Program Manager for a very-large-scale software program for the Missile Defense Agency, the Course Director for Cybersecurity at US Air Force Academy, and research scientist in Machine Learning at Wright Laboratory. Mance received an MS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, and a BS in Computer Science from Mississippi State University.

Leemon Baird is the Co-founder and CTO of Swirlds Inc. With over 20 years of technology and startup experience, he has held positions as a Professor of Computer Science at the Air Force Academy, Adjunct Professor at multiple other prestigious universities, and as a senior scientist in several labs. He has been the co-founder of several startups, including two identity-related start-ups with successful exits. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University faster than any student in school history (2 years, 9 months), has multiple patents, and over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals on computer security, machine learning, and mathematics. He regularly keynotes these topics at conferences.  

Brett brings over 20 years of IT industry coalition experience, and is the Chair of the Hedera Governing Council. He has had founding executive roles at the Kantara Initiative, IDESG, DMARC.org, and FIDO Alliance. In addition, he has extensive multi-stakeholder governance experience, having served on the board or advisory board of MAAWG, NCSA, StopBadWare, and PCI SSC, among other industry coalitions. Brett is a former fellow at the UMASS Center for Digital Government, a former member of the US Federal Reserve Bank's Mobile Payments Industry Working Group and a recipient of the 2019 Top 50 Tech Leaders award from InterCon.

Sam has over five years of experience counselling DLT companies, and acts as both Regulatory Counsel and the Chief Compliance Officer at Hedera. He has influenced and implemented a culture of compliance in previous roles, including as the General Counsel at ShapeShift, a global digital asset exchange. Prior to that, he developed compliance policies and procedures in the Investment Banking Division of Cantor Fitzgerald. Sam earned his BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and his JD from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Tom was previously the Senior Director of Policy & Strategy at Tamkeen, a company that plans, develops, and delivers education projects–including New York University Abu Dhabi–on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi, and acts as both the General Counsel at Hedera, which he joined in 2018, and the Secretary of the Hedera Governing Council. Before that, he was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York, where his practice focused on M&A, private investment funds, and general corporate matters. Tom also currently serves as the chair of the board of directors for Braver Angels, a non-profit organization that brings liberals and conservatives together to reduce polarization. Tom received a BA in Social Studies from Harvard University and a JD from Yale Law School.

Young has a diverse background with over 24 years of banking and startup experience, and acts as both the Chief Financial Officer at Hedera and the Treasurer of the Hedera Governing Council. Previously, he was the Chief Investment Officer at Abra where he built their institutional crypto lending and trading business. Prior to Abra, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Celsius Network and Alt Lending, both in the crypto lending space. Before getting involved in startups, he was an Executive Director at UBS Private Finance, the Managing Director and Co-founder of Newtonian Capital, and the Director at Citigroup Global Special Situations Group. Young has a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Financial Engineering from Cornell and an MPA in Economic Policy Management from Columbia.

Alex is the Chief Information Officer at Hedera and is charged with the technical operations of the network in close partnership with Hedera's member operators, ensuring the sustainable evolution of capabilities to the network while maintaining its core attributes of speed, fairness, and security. Prior to joining Hedera, Alex was the CIO at Health First, a multi-hospital integrated health system. He previously held several technology leadership positions at Fidelity Investments, with primary responsibility for cybersecurity and standards. Among his industry leadership roles, he chaired the technology working group of the Financial Services Roundtable, was appointed to the federal government’s Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board where he was a key contributor to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and was instrumental in the development of the SAML 2.0 and DMARC standards frameworks. Alex began his career as an Air Force officer, is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, and holds an MBA from Bentley University and several patents for cybersecurity technologies.