Relevance Person
Ali Sheppard
Ali Sheppard is Head of operations at IDEO CoLab Ventures and a graduate of MIT.
Conner Fromknecht
Conner Fromknecht is Senior Software Engineer at OP Labs. Formerly, Head of Cryptographic Engineering at Lightning Labs, Core Developer at Enigma, Research Assistant at MIT CSAIL.
Alessandro Chiesa
Alessandro Chiesa is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at StarkWare, Associate Professor at EPFL .
John Mardlin
John Mardlin, Jon Maurelian is Security engineer at Optimism PBC, and a founding member of ConsenSys Diligence. He is a regular writer and speaker on smart contract security. Prior to joining ConsenSys, John worked at Coinbase.
Amanda Jacobsen
Amanda Tyler is the Head of Marketing for Optimism and was previously the Director of Community for Polygon and Manager of Developer Relations at Google.
Vivian (Wei) Tao
Vivian (Wei) Tao is Head of Global Partnerships at Optimism and was previously a PrimeDAO contributor. She graduated from the University of Michigan.
Arun Devabhaktuni
Arun Devabhaktuni is a professional with a background in systems biology, physics, and biology. He is currently a Lead Researcher at Mirana Ventures and an Angel Investor at Valhalla Capital. He has also served as the Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder of ZenMaid Software. Arun has received a PhD in Systems Biology from Stanford University School of Medicine and a BS in Physics and Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Joe Gerber
Joe Gerber is the founder of IDEO CoLab Ventures and was previously a senior Product Manager at Fidelity Investments.
Rodolfo Gonzalez
Rodolfo Gonzalez is the Partner of Foundation Capital. Rodolfo has an MBA from MIT Sloan’s School of Management, with concentrations in finance and entrepreneurship, and degrees in Marketing from ITESM and International Relations from UNAM Mexico.
Dan Elitzer
Dan Elitzer is co-founder at Nascent. Previously, Dan co-founded IDEO CoLab Ventures, a crypto-focused venture firm associated with the renowned design agency, IDEO. During that time, he also helped launch YAM Finance. Dan began his career in social enterprise and microfinance, working with both domestic social impact organizations and international development agencies. Dan earned an MBA from MIT Sloan, where he co-founded the MIT Bitcoin Club and MIT FinTech Club, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Pomona College.