Blockchain Advisory Council

Neeraj Satija

CEO/CTO, Concordus Applications

Neeraj has over 21 years’ experience in setting up telecommunications companies in places like USA, New Zealand, Australia and Saudi Arabia. Neeraj is currently the CEO/CTO at Concordus Applications Inc. (www.concordusapps.com) where he is leading projects to automate the channel business processes and to get Concordus recognized as a disruptive innovator. This focus has led to the creation of Concordus Apps’ Digital Marketplace for Channel companies. Their next deliverable is a channel-focused, blockchain-based platform for Commissions, Loyalty and Payments.

Before joining Concordus Applications in 2016, Neeraj was founding member of 2degrees New Zealand (www.2degreesmobile.co.nz) and played a pivotal part in taking it from zero subscribers to serving nearly 25 percent of New Zealand mobile customers and a billion-dollar valuation in eight years.

Neeraj is a well-known speaker on the Technology events circuit and has given speeches at prestigious events like Channel Partners, Oracle Open World, WSO2Con etc. In recognizing Neeraj's contributions as a Thought Leader in Distributed computing and Blockchain.

On the personal front, Neeraj lives with his wife and two kids aged 10 and 9 in Austin, Texas. In his spare time, Neeraj likes to travel and explore new places with his family.

Jim Gitney

CEO, Group 50

Jim Gitney is the CEO and Founder of Group50. He and the Group50 team are supply chain subject matter experts and fully understand the transformative implications of Blockchain and IoT. As a result, Group50 has launched two Blockchain products: Scioebc for supply chains and Blockchain Facilitated Placement for contract workers. He has over 30 years’ experience in world class companies such as GE, Black & Decker, Sunbeam and Rain Bird and is considered a business strategy expert. His background includes running large operations in multiple facilities both in the US and abroad. Jim’s strength is working with boards, business owners and executives to develop business plans and effectively implement strategies that are focused on alignment, growth, improving productivity, significantly reducing cost and getting big projects done on time and on budget, anywhere in the world.

During his career, Jim has had multiple C-level assignments and his experience includes Executive Chairman, Board Member, CEO, business development, marketing/sales and operations. Jim’s background covers various industries including consumer and industrial products, the internet, government, aerospace, healthcare, professional services and high-tech. His professional experience is complemented by a BSME from the University of Delaware and an MBA from Gannon University.

Paolo Tasca

Executive Director, UCL Centre for Blockchain Technology

Eric Powell

Founder , Rylet Industries, LLC

Adam Lesh

VP of Technology, Breaker

Adam Lesh is the VP, Technology for Breaker (formerly SingularDTV), a blockchain entertainment studio developing a media supply chain to empower independent artists (film, TV, music, eBooks and podcasts) to own, control and monetize their content. Prior to joining Breaker, Adam spent over 20 years in various technology positions in the entertainment industry and is bringing his expertise to bear in using blockchain technology to solve pain points for independent Artists and consumers.

John Souza

Founder, Kingsland University

As the founder of Kingsland University - School of Blockchain, John Souza has set the world- standard in emerging and disruptive technologies education space, successfully delivering global award-winning education programs to some of the world’s most respected companies, universities, government agencies and not-for-profits, amassing over 150,000 students worldwide.

Jason Sfaelos

Senior Manager of Business Development Blockchain & Cloud, Equinix

Jason is the Strategic Business Development lead for Cloud and Blockchain technologies at Equinix. In his role he works with the world’s leading cloud providers, to enable their technologies within the Equinix ecosystem. Jason’s intense interest in blockchain sparked with the introduction of IBM’s Hyperledger 1.0 where he realized the broad ramifications of the technology. Since then, he has engaged different blockchain solution providers, from start-ups to global cloud leaders, lowering the barriers to adoption and cementing Equinix as a key enabler within the space.
Jason has held previous roles in Product Development, Sales, Finance and Strategy with organization ranging from Wall Street to the Telecom Industry. He holds a BS from James Madison University, an MBA from The George Washington University and has completed Oxford’s Blockchain Strategy Program through the Saïd School of Business.

Adam Robyak

Field CTO (Blockchain), Dell EMC

With digital business transformation impacting every industry, customers continue to look for guidance and vision to help them navigate this ever changing landscape. Public cloud, private cloud, and even hybrid or multi-cloud are top of mind for many companies. Additionally, understanding the DevOps culture and agile development with a Platform as a Service (PaaS) can be cumbersome. Wrapping in big data and analytics to sense and respond is crucial. Tying all this back into an operationalized model to solve business challenges and achieve business outcomes, enables businesses to stay competitive and achieve success in this digital era. Adam focuses on partnering with our customers to help them through this journey. 
Adam is a founding member of the blockchain steering committee, working with the Office of the CTO, and has patents pending regarding this technology. He is also a founding member of the Dell EMC Pathfinder Team, founding member and leader of the Business Outcomes Leaders team, and a Dell EMC CTO Ambassador.

Jeremy Ramos

Co-Founder, Phiquest

Jeremy Ramos is an engineer, entrepreneur and inventor with 25 years of experience spanning various leadership and technical roles including military, research and technology areas. In his current position, he leads the development of blockchain-based technology for application to advertising and marketing. Mr. Ramos is a Certified Lean Expert and engineering mentor and has more than 15 years of experience spanning gamification design, industrial design, systems engineering, software development, product engineering, space systems, reconfigurable computer systems, and fault-tolerant systems. Mr. Ramos is a mentor with the National Science Foundation and member of INCOS, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Tau Beta Pi. Mr. Ramos is co-inventor of eight U.S. patents spanning technologies from digital media to space systems and software architecture.

Luca Paterlini

CEO & Founder, Crowd Ltd.

Luca Paterlini is the Founder and CEO of Crowd, an all-inclusive tech solution using blockchain and cryptocurrencies space.   He is an investor, athlete, and out of the box thinker, and he got his exposure to cybersecurity 2 years ago after establishing Crowd Ltd.

George Mastoris

Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP

George Mastoris has been a lawyer since 2003, when he graduated from Columbia Law School.  He is currently a litigation partner with Winston & Strawn LLP, where he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in a host of antitrust, intellectual property, white collar and general commercial disputes, including a number of high-profile litigations and criminal defenses.  George has recently begun working with a number of companies operating in the Blockchain space on both litigation and regulatory matters, and is as excited about the promise of distributed ledger technology as he is concerned about its potential over-regulation.  In his free time, George likes to bike, ski, travel, karaoke and occasionally moonlight as a hip hop/rock and roll violinist.  He has an A.B. from Princeton University and recently obtained a masters in international public policy from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Kevin Leffew

Business Development Manager, Storj Labs

Alex Godwin

Co-Founder & CTO, Gladius

While CTO at Gladius, Alex has designed and helped built peer to peer, open source, and highly available applications that have been deployed on thousands of machines. He enjoys the entire process from design to development and is always looking to expand his skillset through continuing education. Alex is also a NACD board leadership fellow, and cyber risk certified.

Greg Forst

Partner, Go Immutable

Greg is an experienced executive with over 12 years of driving value through innovation.  He has built several companies that identified early innovations ranging from digital music, digital marketing and now blockchain.  His cross-discipline expertise, entrepreneurial mindset, management experience and knack for networking have made him an impact player.

Jim Brinksma

Founding Partner, Black Python

Jim Brinksma has 20 years of technology experience spanning the department of defense, start-ups, technology companies and financial services.  He is currently a founding partner at Black Python, a global alternative investment firm focused on artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies, and cyber-security. 
Jim’s previous roles include Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Ciena, Vice President of Field Systems Engineering & Customer Operations at Ciena, Vice President Network Products & Strategy at Goldman Sachs, Sr. Systems Engineer at Cyras Systems, Network Engineer at Enkido, and he served in the United States Navy during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
Jim’s doctorate is from the University System of Maryland and his dissertation covered “Public Market Signals as a Guide for Entrepreneurs Seeking Venture Capital Investment”. He also completed the Strategy and Innovation Program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the Non-Profit Board Leadership Program at Harvard Business School, and is a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Cyber-Risk Certified Board Leadership Fellow.