FIREBLOCKS - Key Persons
As the Head of Corporate Strategy, Adam leads strategic partnerships, non-crypto digital assets and new ventures at Fireblocks. Adam joined from BNY Mellon where he co-headed their Digital Partnerships team, responsible for leading strategic investing and partnerships with emerging technology companies.
Prior, Adam created and led the global product management team at CLS Bank International, drove strategic initiatives, and headed their post-trade processing business. Adam began his career as a corporate attorney at Clifford Chance, focusing primarily on mergers and acquisitions, with time in New York, London and Milan. Adam has a bachelor's in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis and a juris doctor and Masters in Business Administration from Duke University.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm
Fred Ehrsam is co-founder and Managing Partner at Paradigm. Previously, Fred co-founded Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency company in the US, and held the role of President from 2012 to 2017. Fred purchased his first Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an angel investor in some of the space's most formative companies. Prior to Coinbase, Fred was a foreign exchange trader at Goldman Sachs in New York. Fred holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics with honors and departmental distinction from Duke University.
Gil Mandelzis is a serial entrepreneur and CEO in financial technology. He has a successful record of creating disruptive products and companies, and leading them through global scaling. Prior to Capitolis, Gil was CEO of EBS BrokerTec, NEX Group's (formerly ICAP's) foreign exchange and fixed income Electronic Markets business. He also served as a member of ICAP's Global Executive Management Group. Before EBS-BrokerTec, Gil was CEO of Traiana, a post-trade processing company he founded in 2000. Gil led Traiana's growth from a small start-up to a recognized global leader, resulting in Traiana's acquisition by ICAP in 2007 for $250M. Gil has been a member of the New York Federal Reserve's Foreign Exchange Committee, the Bank of England's Joint Standing Committee, and the Bank of Canada's Foreign Exchange Committee. He was awarded the e-FX achievement award by FX Week in 2012 in recognition of his lasting contribution to the development of the FX industry, and in 2013 he was inducted to Profit & Loss Magazine's Hall of Fame. In 2015 and 2016, Gil was named to Institutional Investor's prestigious Trading Technology 40. He holds a BA in Management and Sociology from Tel Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude) and an MBA (With Distinction) from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Job Titles:
- Founder and General Partner at Cyberstarts
Gili the Founder and General Partner at Cyberstarts. He is also a General Partner at Sequoia Capital (Israel) since 2009. Gili started and led two private companies in the enterprise software market till their acquisition by EMC and IBM. Earlier, Gili worked for 10 years at the Israeli Intelligence agency, and for this work, he was awarded the Israel Security Presidential award in 1996 and the Israeli Defense Forces Innovation award in 1992. Over the year, Gili's innovation has been recognized in the 10 United States patents that he holds for various inventions in security and application management fields. Gili is also a recognized inventor of CAPTCHA, one of the world's most popular security algorithms.
Job Titles:
- CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER
- CO - FOUNDER
Idan brings two decades of experience in software engineering, cyber-security, and product management. Idan was VP R&D and a founding team member at C4 Security, a company that specializes in critical infrastructure protection and the first ever to build a SCADA firewall, followed by a successful acquisition by Elbit Systems. Prior to that, Idan served in an elite cybersecurity unit in the Israeli Intelligence where he led an Israel Defense Award-winning project. Idan is also a big believer in decentralized technologies. He was a co-founder and CTO at Yeloha, a disruptive platform that aimed to decentralize energy trading, and as VP of Product at Orbs, a public blockchain for high scale apps. Idan Holds BSC. In Computer Science and Management from Tel Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude).
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
- Chief Legal & Compliance Officer
- Senior Legal Counsel
Jason Allegrante is the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Fireblocks, where he manages a broad portfolio of legal, regulatory, commercial and compliance matters. Prior to Fireblocks, he worked in the Financial Institution Supervision Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and practiced law at the international firms Linklaters LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Since 2018, Jason has served as senior legal counsel to early stage fintech and SaaS companies and advised on critical matters at the intersection of financial services and the emerging digital asset economy. He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Columbia University and a Certificate in Global Business Law and Governance from Sciences Po / Paris I - Pantheon Sorbonne.
Jay Clayton was the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020. Clayton focused on modernizing the regulation and oversight of our equity and fixed income markets, concentrating on the interests of long-term investors. In addition, under his leadership, the women and men of the SEC addressed various market developments and emerging risks, including the 2020 COVID-19 economic shock, the digitization of securities and other assets, the Brexit and LIBOR transitions, and various cybersecurity matters. Clayton was an active member of the Financial Stability Board, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.
Prior to Clayton's government service, he spent over 20 years at Sullivan & Cromwell where he was a member of the management committee, co-managing partner of the General Practice Group and co-head of the Cybersecurity Group. He was a lead lawyer in an array of complex M&A and capital markets transactions, as well as regulatory and governance matters, in the financial, telecoms, energy, transportation and e-commerce sectors. Clayton also advised a number of individuals in connection with their public and private investments as well as transition matters.
Ken is the Founder of Stripes. Prior to forming Stripes, Ken was a Co-Founder and Managing Director with Internet Capital Group and a Director with Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. and TL Ventures. Ken is also a co-founder of A10 Capital. Ken has been a successful entrepreneur, operator and investor in internet and branded consumer product companies for over 15 years, has started six companies, led investments in over 35 companies and taken two companies he started public. He earned his B.S. in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University.
Madan Gadde is our Chief Customer Officer who brings 20+ years of experience leading Customer Success functions in Enterprise software and SAAS companies. As CCO, Madan leads our post sales teams consisting of Customer Success, Support and Services and Education to ensure our customers are maximizing value from Fireblocks Solutions. As a visionary Customer Success leader he has built, scaled and managed empowered Customer Success teams in global SAAS companies like HP, Genesys, DataStax and Collibra. He has deep experience in helping customers with technology solutions to meet complex strategic and operational goals.
Madan graduated from Andhra University in India with a Masters in Business Administration.
Matt leads Fireblocks' go-to-market team, including Sales, Business Development and Account Management. He brings rich experience leading Sales for tech companies, including as VP of Global Sales for Cloudlock through and after their acquisition by Cisco in 2016. Prior to joining CloudLock, he developed and executed EnerNOC's Enterprise sales strategy, recruiting and developing top sales talent, developing executive relationships, and achieving profitable sales growth and customer success.
Before EnerNOC, he was Global VP of Inside Sales and N.A. Sales for PTC, a product development software leader. He started his career at Standard Register, a document management company in field sales and sales leadership roles. He graduated from Boston University with a BS in Arts and Science and lettered on the Boston University football team.
Michael joined Fireblocks as CFO in June 2023 and brings over 30 years of experience in growing technology and financial services companies. Prior to Fireblocks, Michael spent over 11 years as CFO at Payoneer (Nasdaq: PAYO), a publicly traded global fintech firm.
Michael's work history includes investment banking, commercial banking, telecom, healthcare technology, and global payments. Michael received his undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
- CO - FOUNDER
Michael is the CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, a secure digital asset infrastructure company. Prior to Fireblocks, he co-founded Lacoon Mobile Security, which was acquired by Check Point, and was then appointed the Head of Products, Mobile and Cloud Security for Check Point. Michael is a serial cybersecurity entrepreneur and investor. He is also a recognized industry speaker, delivering talks at RSA Conference, BlackHat and Infosec. Before his commercial endeavors, Michael pioneered the mobile security field in an elite military technological unit (8200), where he received the Israeli Presidential Excellency Honor for his contributions. He holds a BSc in Computer Sciences and Physics from Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
Michal leads our global marketing strategy including continuing to grow the brand, expanding demand, cultivating opportunities in existing and new markets, and showcasing customer success. She brings rich experience building and scaling go-to-market functions at high growth software organizations including Snyk, a startup-made-leader in the developer security space.
Prior to Snyk she developed and executed marketing strategies at Threat Stack (acquired by F5) and CloudLock (acquired by Cisco).
Oded is the CIO & CISO of Fireblocks. Oded is an award-winning executive and systems consultant with 20+ years across Cyber Security & IT roles.
Prior to Fireblocks, Oded was the CISO of Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank. Previously, he served as CIO & CISO of Clicksoftware and led successful M&A security due diligence enabling a 1.4B$ acquisition of Clicksoftware to Salesforce.com. Prior to that, he was Chief Cybersecurity Architect and CISO of Israel's largest aerospace company, where he spearheaded an innovative cybersecurity architecture and implemented a new cyber defense center program, reducing cyber threats and operational costs significantly. He earned a BS in Computer Science and Management at Open University of Israel.
Job Titles:
- CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
- CO - FOUNDER
Prior to his role at Fireblocks, Pavel Berengoltz was Director of Mobile Solutions at Check Point Software Technologies, where he managed the development of Check Point's new emerging technologies, including innovative cybersecurity solutions that allow enterprises and consumers to securely use mobile devices. Prior to his role at Check Point, Pavel was Director of Research of Lacoon Mobile Security, which was acquired by Check Point in April 2015. Prior to that, Pavel worked in Wave Systems as VP R&D of Safend Subsidiary, where he drove the research and development, QA and product management of Safend flagship products. Prior to his role in Wave, Pavel was CTO of Safend, which was acquired by Wave Systems in 2003. Pavel is a former member of the elite Israel 8200 Intelligence unit, where he developed and led multiple cutting edge products.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Computer Science at Boston University
Ran Canetti is the Professor of Computer Science at Boston University and Tel Aviv University, and Director of the Check Point Institute for Information Security and of the Center for Reliable Information System and Cyber Security. His main areas of research span across cryptography and information security, with an emphasis on the design, analysis, and use of cryptographic protocols.
Job Titles:
- SVP Payments & Network
- VP Payments
Ran Goldi is VP Payments for Fireblocks, an award winning provider of secure digital asset infrastructure. Before joining Fireblocks, Goldi was CEO of First Digital, a company focusing on payment acceptance for stablecoins and CBDCs, which was acquired by Fireblocks. Prior to establishing First, Goldi co-founded and managed an algorithmic trading company, acted as VP in a company he took public on the London Stock Exchange, and served as the head of IT investments for a private equity fund. Goldi is a former captain from the Israeli intelligence forces and holds a BA in Business Administration.
Job Titles:
- Chief Risk and Strategy Officer
Roi Karo is the Chief Risk and Strategy Officer at Fireblocks.
Roi applies his extensive experience in information technology, digital transformation, and national defense to enhancing Fireblocks' risk and security posture.
Prior to joining Fireblocks, he served in the Israeli intelligence community for over 25 years in a wide variety of senior leadership and managerial positions. His work focused on cybersecurity, strategic planning, and intelligence. Roi earned a BS in computer science and economy from Bar-Ilan University and holds an MBA from Reichman University.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Financial Markets & Head of APAC
Stephen has multiple years of experience in both traditional and crypto-focused financial institutions. Stephen's role at Fireblocks involves structuring, developing, and evaluating strategic opportunities with traditional financial services and native digital asset companies that align with the growth of the Fireblocks platform.
Prior to Fireblocks, he was Senior Manager in the Financial Services practice of Accenture Strategy, focused on transforming customer experience and digital enablement programs for leading Financial Services firms. Prior to Accenture, he was Head of Strategy and Head of Product (Business) for Noble Markets, where he evaluated and implemented key strategic objectives, including development of Noble's banking and trade settlement products.He holds a B.A. from Cornell University and MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Stuart is our Chief People Officer who brings 20+ years of experience leading Human Resources / People teams. As CPO, Stuart leads our People Operations and Talent Acquisition teams to ensure we are building a culture that encourages each of us to bring our very best ideas every day. A leading advocate of progressive people practices, he has led a variety of global tech companies through periods of high growth and rapid innovation, including Trilogy Education, Cox Automotive, Scripps Networks, and Take-Two Interactive.
Stuart is a frequent speaker on People / HR topics at conferences and is a prominent member of several Chief People Officer networking groups.
Stuart attended Baylor University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and later returned to complete his Masters degree.
Job Titles:
- Partner at Tenaya Capital
Tom Banahan is a Partner at Tenaya Capital, and he has been a member of the Tenaya investment team since 1999. Most recently, he was the vice president of business development for Marimba. Tom joined Marimba as the fourteenth employee and was involved in all areas of the company's growth through its successful public offering in April 1999. Prior to Marimba, Tom was the vice president of worldwide sales for Spyglass. He joined Spyglass as the twenty-third employee and was instrumental in helping the company deliver a string of 12 consecutive profitable quarters that positioned Spyglass as the first Internet company to access the public equity markets in June 1995. During the six years prior to Spyglass, Tom worked for Comdisco, Inc. as a vice president of sales, with his sales team directly responsible for significant revenue generated from sales to Fortune 1000 companies. Tom holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.