Why I’m Joining Stellar

I know that I am at my very best when my work has a purpose, and when I’m pushing for change. And that’s why, on May 1, I am joining the Stellar Development Foundation as the Executive Director and CEO.

The vision is big: Stellar and SDF hope to unlock the world’s economic potential by making money more fluid, markets more open, and people more empowered. And thinking big, beyond any one product, beyond any single issue – that’s what has always driven me.

Stellar’s combination of technology, product, and purpose is special, and I have been lucky enough to have experienced the effectiveness of this trio before, at Mozilla. As Mozilla’s COO, I led the organization’s ongoing fight for Net Neutrality. I led the global effort to ensure that people can control their personal data. And--perhaps most relevant to my future at SDF—I pushed Mozilla to understand how to partner with commercial entities without neglecting its core mission. Among blockchains, Stellar is uniquely positioned to connect to existing payment infrastructure, and it’s growing those connections that excites me the most.

Throughout my professional career I’ve seen that when an organization embraces openness, attends to the community, and owns a mission, it inspires innovation and harnesses constituency power. I’m extremely excited to bring all I’ve learned to Stellar and to the Stellar Development Foundation.