Masaki Bessho
CTO, R3
Masaki Bessho is the Head of FinTech Center, Bank of Japan, since September, 2021. Prior to the current assignment, he has served for the Bank for more than 25 years, as Associate Director-General of Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Deputy Chief Representative for Europe, and Head of Financial Infrastructure Studies Division of the IMES (Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies). He contributes to a number of forums on digital currency and FinTech, including the CBDC group of central banks and the Bank for International Settlements. He received an LL.M. from the University of Virginia (1999) and an LL.B. from Kyoto University (1994). He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
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Richard Brown
CTO, R3
Richard is one of the world’s leading authorities on confidential computing and distributed ledger systems. As CTO at R3, Richard leads the team that designed and brought to market Conclave, a platform for the development of confidential computing applications. Prior to his work on Conclave, Richard led the design and construction of Corda, a product that brings the benefits of blockchain technology to the world of regulated business and enterprise deployment. Richard excels at making complex technical topics understandable and relevant to audiences of all background and is in high demand as a speaker. Before joining R3, Richard was the Executive Architect for Banking and Financial Markets industry innovation at IBM UK. His previous roles with the company, for which he worked for almost fifteen years, included Lead Account Architect for a global Investment Banking client and a consultant for IBM software products. Richard is a Chartered Engineer, holds an MBA with distinction from Warwick Business School and a first-class degree in Mathematics from Trinity College, Cambridge.
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Rodney Garratt
Senior Advisor, Bank for International Settlements
Rod Garratt is a Senior Adviser at the Bank for International Settlements. He is currently on extended leave from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he is a Professor of Economics. He was previously employed as a Research Advisor at the Bank of England and is a former Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Garratt received his undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Network Theory in Finance and Digital Finance.
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Lauren Del Giudice
Senior Architect, IDEMIA
Lauren Del Giudice is Senior Architect at IDEMIA R&D. She has 17 years of experience in secure embedded and integrated systems, from the low level layers to the OS, VM and applications. She obtained multiple patents on that technology. She was Lead Architect for Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) CBDC 21’ challenge and the awarded Bank of Indonesia G20 TechSprint 22’. She is also a member of the Bank of England CBDC Technology Forum. Prior to that, she worked in security and system for digital TV.
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 Julio Faura
CEO, Adhara.io
Julio’s career has been running for more than 20 years along the worlds of Technology and Financial Services, and he now focuses on digital assets, blockchain and distributed ledgers, particularly on their applications for financial institutions, public institutions and enterprises in general. He started out as chip designer, then worked for 6 years at McKinsey & Co serving top financial institutions globally, and then worked for 11 years for Santander, playing many corporate leadership roles in Investment Banking, Consumer Finance, IT & Operations, and global M&A. He has been leading Santander's activities around crypto-currencies, blockchain and distributed ledgers for years, and has led the creation of many relevant industry consortia. He was the founding chairman of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, the founding chairman of Spain's Alastria network, a member of the board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, and an advisor to startups, corporates and regulatory / government bodies regarding blockchain technology and their implications In July 2018 Julio became a full time entrepreneur and CEO of Adhara, a company that seeks to help financial institutions and corporates leverage smart contracts and blockchain to improve the execution of international payments and optimize liquidity management, in partnership with ConsenSys. An engineer at heart, Julio holds a TelecommunicationEngineering degree from UPM-Spain, a PhD in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering from UAM-Spain, and a MsC in Management of Technology from MIT-Sloan.
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Jacques Remi Francoeur
Chief Scientist, Security Inclusion Now, United States
Jacques is the founder and Chief Scientist of Security Inclusion Now - USA, a California-based consulting, training and software organization innovating in security tool development. Jacques is also a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network recognized as a Blockchain security expert and the lead of the Security & Assurance Working Group of the Future of Digital Currency Global Initiative, a joint program of UN-ITU/Stanford University. Jacques has over 30+ years of experience in high technology beginning his career as an Aerospace Engineer with the Canadian Space Agency, next moving to Silicon Valley in 1999, beginning his privacy and security consulting advisory career with KPMG, followed by SAIC and E&Y. Jacques is a 2018/19/20 US Delegate to the U.S. Department of State to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Standardization Study Group 17: Security. He was also Vice Chair of the ITU Focus Group on Digital Fiat Currency and co-chair of the Security Working Group. Finally, Jacques supports San Jose State University as a Faculty Cyber Executive-in-Residence. Jacques has an MBA with honors from Concordia University, Montreal; M.A.Sc from the University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospace Studies and a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science, Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto.
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Geoffrey Goodell
Lecturer, University College London
Dr Geoffrey Goodell is a Lecturer in Financial Computing at University College London whose work focuses on socio-technical systems in financial services. He is a member of the Bank of England CBDC Technology Forum and an associate of the Systemic Risk Centre of the London School of Economics. He is Convenor of two ISO working groups on distributed ledger technologies and an ISO advisory group on digital currency. He serves on the product advisory committee of the Digital Token Identifier Foundation and is advisor to two European industry groups that focus on digital assets. Dr Goodell is a CFA charterholder and has roughly a decade of experience in the financial industry as a strategist at Goldman, Sachs & Co and later as a portfolio manager at a boutique asset management firm. His research contributes to knowledge and policy at the intersection of finance, technology, and regulation.
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Caroline Hill
Director Global Policy and Regulatory Strategy, Circle
Caroline Hill is the Director for Global Policy and Regulatory Strategy at Circle. Prior to joining Circle, Caroline led the U.S. Treasury Department’s efforts to develop and implement policies to counter money laundering and terrorist financing in Africa and the Western Hemisphere, including on issues related to digital assets and financial technology. She was also the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and the U.S. President to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Caroline started her career at the Treasury Department in the office of Foreign Assets Control at Treasury, where she targeted individuals and companies who were evading U.S. sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Syria. Prior to Treasury, Caroline worked at Deloitte Consulting where she conducted financial investigations for public sector clients.
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Bilel Jamoussi
Chief of Study Group Department, TSB, ITU
Tunisian born, Dr. Bilel Jamoussi is Chief of the Study Groups Department of ITU Standardization Bureau in Geneva Switzerland. Since 2010, he has been leading the bureau’s standards making activities into a new era characterized by rapid convergence and the need for increased collaboration with vertical sectors and partnership between developed and developing countries. Prior to 2010, Jamoussi worked for a Telecommunication equipment and solutions provider for 15 years in Canada and then in the United States where he held several leadership positions and was granted 22 US patents in diverse areas including packet, optical, wireless, and quality of service. He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and speaks some Spanish and German.
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Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli
Division Chief, Monetary, Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli is the Division Chief of the Payments, Currencies, and Infrastructure division at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His work focuses on digital currencies and payments, monetary policy, foreign exchange interventions, modelling, and central banking operations and communication. He has advised country authorities and published widely on these topics. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Mancini-Griffoli was a senior economist in the Research and Monetary Policy Division of the Swiss National Bank, where he advised the Board on quarterly monetary policy decisions. Mr. Mancini-Griffoli spent prior years in the private sector, at Goldman Sachs, the Boston Consulting Group, and technology startups in the Silicon Valley. He holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and prior degrees from the London School of Economics and Stanford University.
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Vijay Mauree
Programme Coordinator, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, ITU
Vijay Mauree joined the ITU, in 2010 and has over 20 years of experience in project management and cybersecurity. He is the focal point for Digital Financial Services at the Standardization Bureau in ITU. He is currently coordinating the work of the Financial Inclusion Global Initiative (FIGI) which is a joint programme of the ITU, World Bank, Bank for International Settlements and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also leads the FIGI Security, Infrastructure and Trust Working Group which is investigating the security threats to the DFS Ecosystem and developing technical reports and guidelines to enhance trust in DFS. He is also leading the DFS Security Lab conducts security audits on DFS applications used in emerging economies and collaborates with DFS regulators and providers to enhance security of digital finance. In addition, Vijay coordinates the secretariat for the Digital Currency Global Initiative which is a collaboration between ITU and Stanford Digital Currency Program. The Digital Currency Global Initiative is investigating areas where technical standards for Central Bank Digital Currency, Stablecoins, eMoney and cryptocurrency are required. He coordinated the work of the ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services and ITU-T Focus Group Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency. He was previously responsible for the implementation of projects under Bridging the Standardization Gap programme and undertaking research for production of Technology Watch reports. He published four Technology Watch reports on Optical networks, Smart Water Management, Privacy in the Cloud and Mobile Money. Vijay received his first degree in Computer Science with Electronic Engineering from University College London, UK and obtained his Masters degree in Information Technology from Imperial College, Science and Technology, UK. He also holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management in UK.
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David Mazieres
Director, Stanford Future of Digital Currency Program, United States of America
David Mazières is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he leads the Secure Computer Systems research group and co-directs the Center for Blockchain Research and Future of Digital Currency Initiative. His research interests include Operating Systems and Distributed Systems, with a particular focus on security. He is also a co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation.
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Kwame Oppong
Head of Fintech and Innovation, Bank of Ghana
Kwame Oppong is the Head of Fintech and Innovation at Bank of Ghana. His background spans Technology, Digital Financial Services (DFS) operations, policy development, and regulation. He has consulted for several governments, public sector institutions, international development organizations and private corporations globally. He is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion, innovation, and the development of digital economies.
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Robin Renwick
Senior Research Analyst, Trilateral Research
Robin forms part of the Innovation & Research team at Trilateral Research. He joined TRI as research lead for the European Commission Horizon 2020 project,
SOTER. SOTER was tasked with the development of a biometric identification and authentication digital on-boarding platform for the open-banking environment. Trilateral led the privacy, ethical, and social impact assessment (PIA+) process. Currently, Robin works on the PIA+ in two further Horizon 2020 projects -
iToBoS, and
PANDEM-2. He also leads Trilateral’s involvement in European Commission Framework contracts with DG CONNECT, DG RTD, and the Committee of the Regions (CoR). As well as working within the
ITU-T DCGI's Privacy, Identity, AML, KYC Workstream, Robin is also an active member of International Standards Organization, Technical Committee 307 – Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies, co-leading ‘PWI 12833 Re-identification and privacy vulnerabilities and mitigation methods in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies’. He is also a member of CEN/CELEC standardisation committee
JTC 19 – Decentralized Identity Management. Prior to his work at Trilateral Research, Robin developed an interdisciplinary research background; concerned with the triumvirate of networks, technology, and society.
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Jean-Marc Seigneur
Director of the blockchain certificate of advanced studies, University of Geneva
PD Dr. Jean-Marc Seigneur has published more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific publications worldwide in the field of decentralized trust. He is the director of the blockchain certificate of advanced studies at the University of Geneva. He has evaluated multi-million Euros blockchain project proposals for the European Commission. He has also directed such projects as principal investigator at the University of Geneva. He has taught, presented, and discussed blockchain, crypto-currencies, and decentralized finance at many international conferences and several governmental and international organizations (Digital Ministry of Thailand, World Intellectual Property Organization, State of Geneva...). His research focus is now on decentralized finance for good including offline crypto transactions with hardware wallets and trusted execution environments.
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Lex Sokolin
Chief Cryptoeconomics Officer, ConsenSys
Lex is a futurist and entrepreneur working on the next generation of financial services. He is the Chief Cryptoeconomics Officer at ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company building the infrastructure and applications that enable a decentralized world. Lex focuses on protocol crypto-economics, digital assets, public and private blockchains, and decentralized finance and autonomous organizations. He had also held the roles of Chief Marketing Officer and Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys. Previously, Lex was the Global Director of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous Research (acquired by AllianceBernstein), an equity research firm serving institutional investors, where he covered artificial intelligence, blockchain, neobanks, digital lenders, roboadvisors, payments, insurtech, and mixed reality. Before Autonomous, Lex was COO at AdvisorEngine (acquired by Franklin Templeton), a digital wealth management technology platform, and CEO of NestEgg Wealth, a roboadvisor that partnered with financial advisors. Prior to NestEgg, Lex held roles in investment management and banking at Barclays, Lehman Brothers, and Deutsche Bank. Lex has contributed thought leadership to the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, Coindesk, American Banker, ThinkAdvisor, Investment News, among others and is a regular speaker at industry conferences. He earned a JD/MBA from Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Law from Amherst College.
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Herve Tourpe
Chief Digital Advisor, IMF
He leads a team of digital experts in transformative technologies relevant to IMF’s Member Countries, such as Fintech, AI, Blockchain, Big Data, cloud and the related cyber risks. A passionate “techno-realist”, he strives to provide unbiased and cross-country expertise on technology trends, opportunities and risks, especially for emerging and low-income countries. Mr. Tourpe is an expert in national digital strategies, with a particular focus on financial inclusion, sustainable development, digital payment and Central Bank Digital Currencies. Formerly Chief E.
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Xiaochen Zhang
Principal Manager, AWS
Xiaochen is a Principal Manager with AWS. In this role, he brings digital solutions to public sector financial and multilateral institution customers and help them to achieve their missions of sustainable development and economic inclusion across Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Prior to AWS, Xiaochen worked with many portfolio companies in launching new offers, entering into new markets and building transformative collaborative initiatives on central bank digital currencies, sustainable development and blockchain. Xiaochen built strong collaborations with government agencies, multinational organizations, and financial institutions through work with the World Bank, United Nations, Inter-America Development Bank, Astana International Finance Center, FinTech4Good and many other international platforms in the past 20 years.
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