Following a rigorous recruitment phase, the Ethereum Foundation has appointed an Executive Director and designated three individuals to the Board of Directors. This represents a new organizational configuration, which will enable us to concentrate on our upcoming development phase.
The Ethereum Foundation is a non-profit (‘Stiftung’) entity registered in Switzerland, intended to oversee the funds that were obtained from the Ether Sale to optimally support the Ethereum and decentralized technology ecosystem.
Our newly appointed Executive Director is Ming Chan, and our Board currently consists of four members: Lars Klawitter, Vadim Levitin, Wayne Hennessy-Barrett, and Vitalik Buterin (Chairperson of the Board).
Executive Director
MING CHAN
An alumna of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she pursued studies in Computer Science, Media Arts & Sciences, Ming is a Swiss-born Chinese American who has dedicated decades to leading and executing intricate IT and management consulting projects, establishing and expanding business initiatives, and collaborating with prominent educators, scientists, and inventors to actualize groundbreaking research innovations. She has been following Ethereum since 2013 and possesses a solid grasp of the legal and regulatory aspects pertinent to blockchain technology.
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Board Members
LARS KLAWITTER
Lars holds a degree in Computer Science and worked as a founder or senior executive in various startups during the initial internet revolution of the late 90s. Having transitioned into senior roles within the automotive sector, Lars possesses extensive experience in building and developing organizations at the confluence of technology and innovation. He has held multiple C-Level IT positions, most recently as CIO at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, where he now oversees the special vehicles and innovations division.
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WAYNE HENNESSY-BARRETT
Founder and CEO of 4G Capital, a mobile money fintech enterprise based in Kenya. He has developed and overseen scalable distribution networks in developing markets globally, with a wealth of experience in corporate governance and risk management. After a commendable military career, he has offered intelligence-led consultancy and strategic guidance to several boards across both commercial and public sectors. He is a passionate advocate for the transformative potential of financial technology to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development.
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DR. VADIM DAVID LEVITIN
Vadim has dealt with technological issues in twenty-three countries on behalf of the United Nations. A trained physician, he became fascinated by the intersection of human and technological systems, prompting him to pursue a master’s degree in technology. He managed a business development firm in Eastern Europe catering to Fortune 500 clients interested in the region as it emerged from communism. Later, he served as CEO of Ecommerce Institute, a global technology corporation with subsidiaries in the U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Caribbean. He has provided consultancy to major companies, governments, and NGOs across nearly every continent, authoring national strategies concerning economic and technological matters ranging from digital marketplaces to online stock exchanges, from e-learning institutions to technology strategies for developing nations, from transport to tourism, and from health care to national broadband infrastructure advancement.
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VITALIK BUTERIN
Vitalik is among the creators of Ethereum. He first encountered Bitcoin in 2011, and the blend of mathematics, economics, and an immediate sensation that it embodied the monetary system “as it should be” drew him irresistibly to the scene. In September 2011, he co-founded and took on the role of head writer for Bitcoin Magazine. Subsequently, Vitalik established Ethereum, an arbitrary-state Turing-complete blockchain scripting platform that serves various purposes such as smart contracts, computational resource marketplaces, financial experimentation, decentralized governance, and numerous other applications that are yet to be imagined.
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If you wish to coordinate an interview with our new Foundation Board, please reach out to press@ethereum.org