Will has over 25 years of experience in global derivatives markets technology and market structure. Mr. Evans’ 16 year career at CME Group began in the Technology Division at a formative time in the commodity derivatives markets when open outcry trading transitioned to electronic trading resulting in explosive growth and eventually industry M&A consolidation. Mr. Evans advanced in his career at CME Group which led him to the Corporate Program Management Office where he lead corporate wide, cross divisional strategic initiatives such as integration planning and execution post acquisition of The Chicago Board of Trade, merging the product and services divisions as well as the market operations divisions. He then was appointed by executive management to the role of Chief Operating Officer of a wholly owned subsidiary, Swapstream LTD, a UK based Interest Rate Swap trading platform used by the global tier one interdealer banks. Later he returned to the Corporate Development Division where he focused on in-organic strategic growth initiatives, establishing an electronic order routing link with the Mexican Derivatives Exchange (BMV Goup) and product cross licensing agreements with the Brazilian derivatives exchange B3. More recently he led CME Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of CME Group. As Board Member, and strategic partner, Will has contributed to foreign derivatives exchanges in development of market structure, derivative product strategy as well as early stage fintech companies influencing change in how global markets operate.
For the last 28 years, Todd has been a recognized specialist in the market development of natural resources in emerging markets with a particular focus on environmentally low impact projects. Todd has a demonstrated track record of identifying undervalued and underperforming assets in natural resource environments, particularly those in developing countries, and has led multiple ventures that materialize their untapped value.
He has lived, worked and built successful companies in South America and Asia for more than 25 years including projects in Guyana, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China. The companies that Todd founded include Envision Corp. (an incubator for sustainable technology companies), Composite Technologies (an environmental engineering company that develops, produces and distributes environmentally low-impact “green” building products to corporations including: The Home Depot, Lowes and Masonite/Stanley Door and Jeld-Wen Window and Door), Infinite Earth (author of the first forest carbon accounting methodology for REDD+, which is now a mechanism embodied in the Paris Agreement, development of the first REDD+ project under the VCS/CCBA standards, and owner of the largest privately funded orangutan reserve in the world) and Veridium Labs (an environmental blockchain company that powers sustainable supply chain solutions).
Executive Director
Veridium Foundation
Jim is the co-founder of InfiniteEarth, a company dedicated to developing and managing tropical conservation land banks and provides environmental offsets and private label CSR solutions to companies across the globe. Along with Todd Lemons, Jim helped develop the first validated REDD+ project ever under the VCS and helped define the criteria by which all projects are measured. After spending 5 years as InfiniteEarth’s Managing Director, Jim founded Green Projects, Inc., a company developing new consumer behavior models through disruptive sustainable retail concepts. Jim has also spent more than two decades growing startup businesses in the Entertainment & Fashion industries in Los Angeles, New York and Shanghai. Jim’s businesses have boasted a prestigious list of clients including Nickelodeon, Universal Studios, and NBC, as well as Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus.
Advisor
Matthew Le Merle is co-founder and Managing Partner of Fifth Era and of Keiretsu Capital - the most active early stage venture investors backing more than 175 companies a year.
In the blockchain and crypto domains, Matthew is General Partner of the Keiretsu Capital Blockchain Fund of Funds, an advisor and/or investor with BitBull, Bitwise, Blockchain Capital, Blocktower, Castle Island, Future Perfect and Pantera. He also provides advisory services through his teams at Fifth Era Blockchain and Blockchain Generation and is a project advisor at ACX, Atlas Money, Codex, Hadron, Liquineq, ReadyUp and Veridium Labs.
Earlier in his career, Matthew spent 21 years as a strategy, operations and corporate finance advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, boards and executive teams with McKinsey & Company, and as a practice leader with A.T. Kearney and Monitor Group where he led both firms’ West Coast practices and at Booz & Company. He was also a corporate executive at Gap Inc. where he was SVP strategy and corporate development and SVP global marketing.
Matthew is an adjunct professor at Singularity University, bestselling author and keynote speaker. He received a B.A. (Double First) and Master’s from Christ Church, Oxford, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was born in London, UK, and is now a dual US/UK citizen and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and London, UK with his wife, Alison Davis, and their five children.
Advisor
David is a Director at Widus Partners Singapore. David primarily advises on token projects and ICOs, corporate and financial transactions on behalf of buyers, issuers and underwriters including cross-border M&A, debt/equity offerings and various other fundraising efforts and strategic investments. David has previously worked at leading global law firms including Latham & Watkins LLP and Sidley Austin LLP, where he had advised clients across the corporate and emerging tech sectors in the Asia Pacific, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Korea. David holds a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. from Emory University.
Advisor
Hazem is a fintech and regtech expert who currently serves on the Board of Advisors of Securrency, Coinfirm, Humaniq, and F6S. Hazem is also the co-founder of multiple business incubators and frequently speaks on the changing regulatory landscape of blockchain and other emerging technologies. Mr Nakib has also worked with the Royal Bank of Canada and the Boston Consulting Group in various roles related to fintech and regtech including business financial services and venture creation specific to supporting SME’s.
Advisor
Yo Sub Kwon is the CEO of Hosho Group, the global leader in blockchain security. Prior to Hosho, Yo co-founded LaunchKey, a cybersecurity company providing secure authentication technology. LaunchKey was acquired in 2016 and is now owned by TransUnion. A serial entrepreneur and cybersecurity expert, Yo has an established history in the blockchain space, mining his first bitcoin in 2010 and later serving as a co-founder of Coinsetter, a US-based bitcoin exchange founded in 2012 and acquired by Kraken. Yo was included in Inc. Magazine's prestigious 2013 "30 Under 30" entrepreneur list.
Advisor
Alan is an entrepreneur, connector, and a thought leader in risk management. His mission is to protect Earth’s most vital ecosystems by democratizing natural capital investment. Alan is Chief Strategist of GenBlue, a venture studio dedicated to building a liquid global natural capital marketplace. Previously, Alan established Natural Capital Markets at Lykke AG, and listed the world’s first mangrove and Blue Carbon backed blockchain token (TREE). Alan has over two decades of risk management experience with leading financial institutions, and was a founding member of the RiskMetrics Group (now MSCI), a JPMorgan spin-off. Alan holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management from Stanford University.
Advisor
Lawrence has over 25 years of experience in derivatives trading and fintech. He was the head of the risk management business (EMEA) at RiskMetrics Group, where he also held management positions in marketing, research, and CDO products. Lawrence was global head of base metals trading at Citigroup and a derivatives trader in metals and energy at JPMorgan. Lawrence holds a degree in applied mathematics from Harvard.
Advisor
Shandi is the founder of IDEAglobal Group, a globally recognized ratings development company that advises governments, hedge funds and finance professionals worldwide. Since 2008, Shandi has focused on creating product architecture for carbon risk-returns to the standard of major asset classes and subsequently founded the Carbon Ratings Agency and IDEAcarbon to service the IDEAglobal Group network of public and private sector organisations. Shandi graduated from the London School of Economics with a BSc (Economics) and MSc (International Monetary Economics) and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the London School of Economics in 1997 for his services to developing financial market solutions for the global economy.
Advisor
Joel Telpner, partner Sullivan & Worcester's New York office, is a seasoned advisor & strategist. Mr. Telpner brings more than 30 years of legal experience in a career that includes time as an AmLaw 100 partner, the former U.S. general counsel of a global financial institution and has an extensive and unique combination of transactional and regulatory experience. Mr. Telpner is leading policy initiatives on global regulatory issues for blockchain on behalf of the Global Blockchain Business Council and the Blockchain Research Institute. He is also a member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance’s Legal Working Group, which is developing guidance on best practices for ICOs.
Advisor
Martijn is head of Baker and McKenzie’s Global Environmental Markets and Climate Change. His other roles include Visiting Professor of Climate Change Law at the Australian National University, Chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and a Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, WWF (Australia) and the Climate Council. He holds advisory roles as Chair of the NSW Climate Change Council, a Governing Board Member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) and as a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He is also the Deputy Chair of the Private Sector Roundtable of the Asia Pacific Rainforest Recovery Plan and on the Reef Trust Innovative Financial Mechanisms Panel. In 2012, Martijn was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia.
Advisor
Scott is Chairman and CEO of Global Action Plat- form, a university-business alliance to advance scalable, sustainable solutions for abundant food, health, and prosperity. Global Action Platform is affiliated with the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School, and Dr. Massey is Executive in Residence at the Massey School of Business, Belmont University, and a member of Michael Porter’s national Microeconomics of Competitiveness network.
Advisor
Gerald Prolman is a serial entrepreneur with a 38-year history building branded, specialty consumer product companies having established several new market segments with ventures that join together for-profit and cause related business interests. Companies founded and led by Mr. Prolman include Made in Nature Inc. (the first organic produce brand in the US to break through to mass market retail) and Organic Bouquet, Inc. (the worlds first online organic floral gifting site). Gerald joined Wildlife Works in 2004 and served as EVP of Business Development in 2007. Gerald was named president of “Everland” a new company launched by Wildlife Works that exclusively represents the world’s largest and highest quality portfolio of REDD+ projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia.