Partisia Blockchain Foundation
The Partisia Blockchain Foundation is the independent not-for-profit organization behind the Partisia Blockchain. We are in Zug, Switzerland, and supervised by Swiss authorities.
Our mission
Our mission is to establish a Web3 infrastructure with no single point of trust for generic coordination of public and private information, suitable for all applications and platforms.
Privacy
We protect data, no matter where it is: at rest, in transit, and in use.
Interoperability
We facilitate value and data transfer across all platforms through decentralized control and privacy.
High Performance
Scalable public and private coordination of information ensures high performance.
Greater Good
Partisia Blockchain is an infrastructure for the global greater good.
Our purpose
Partisia Blockchain Foundation was established in 2020 with the locked purpose of creating the Partisia Blockchain and promoting it to the world. The starting point was the initial whitepaper and a no-action letter from Switzerland’s FINMA defining the token classification. This provides a very strong governance baseline required for the longevity of the project.
The core priorities for the Foundation and the project build on this:
- Priority 1: Governance – ensure good governance and long-run trust.
- Priority 2: Mainnet – build a mainnet as best in class within the boundaries of the no-action letter.
- Priority 3: Adoption – ensure wide adoption of mainnet.
Built by world-leading cryptographers
Founders of the companies Partisia and Instars established the Partisia Blockchain Foundation in 2020. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from cryptography, computer science, and business. They draw on the expertise of experts and developers from Partisia and elsewhere working under arms-length agreements for the Partisia Blockchain Foundation.
academic work since
research papers
commercial applications
developers
Team
The team is composed of world-renowned experts, software and business developers and pioneers within the combination of Web3, blockchain and multiparty computation. The team currently consists of three organizations and groups of people united around the core priorities.
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Foundation team
manages the project as a whole from governance and mainnet to all types of adoption. Part of the work is outsourced via the arm’s length agreements to Partisia and PBC Apps.
Core Members
Adrienne Youngman
Chief Executive Officer
Adrienne Youngman leads the Partisia Blockchain Foundation with extensive experience in business strategy, entrepreneurship, and Web3 innovation. She previously led global communications for Captain Morgan and co-founded two successful service businesses in Asia. In Web3, she has driven adoption of DAO tooling and decentralized infrastructure, including leading growth initiatives at POKT Network. At Partisia Blockchain, Adrienne focuses on scaling privacy-preserving blockchain technologies and expanding global impact.
Hinrich Pfeifer
Chief Operating Officer
Hinrich spent two years building and leading the Cardano Foundation after spending more than a decade in the finance industry at UBS. He has a track record of building and leading global teams and executing growth and adoption strategies for the Cardano Foundation and UBS. Hinrich is poised to scale up Partisia Blockchain as a premier layer 1 and layer 2 blockchain.
Bruce Ahn
Chief Success Officer
Bruce has dedicated his career to integrating technology, culture, and people to transform businesses. He has an unwavering commitment to servant leadership, expressed through fostering stakeholder collaboration. During his tenure at New York Life Insurance Company, he delivered large and complex technology upgrades and a range of new products. His work at Partisia Blockchain focuses on building organizational infrastructure to support dApp partners.
Shirly Valge
Chief of Growth
Shirly is an experienced professional in disruptive technologies and business development. She held key positions at various organizations where she played a pivotal role in building and expanding the scope. Shirly is a recognized growth driver and her distinguished credentials reflect her commitment to the industry, with her Forbes 30 under 30 nomination in 2021 and numerous keynote addresses at major industry events.
Alexander Pombo
Head of Government and Institutional Adoption
Alexander Pombo focuses on bringing Web2 organizations onto Partisia Blockchain. Having researched the usage of blockchain and MPC technology in e-voting for his Master’s thesis, Alexander connects public institutions and corporations with our unique solutions. In addition to his Master’s degree in Political Sciences, Alexander specialized in Slavic Studies and Languages.
Leeny Luong
Adoption Officer
Leeny Luong, Adoption Officer, is a seasoned web3 professional with deep expertise in marketing, partnerships, and user growth across leading CEX, infrastructure, and DeFi projects. She holds a Master’s in International Development from Tsinghua University and a Bachelor’s in Economics & Business Administration from Aarhus University. Leeny’s deep understanding of emerging technologies and market trends drives her commitment to guiding web3 initiatives and fostering innovation.
Mathias Glintborg
Head of Product
Mathias has developed deep expertise in blockchain, decentralized finance, digital identity, and privacy-preserving technology. He has lived and worked in cities worldwide, including Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Zug, and Copenhagen. His technical insight and global perspective give him a powerful and unique approach to helping clients integrate Partisia Blockchain into their operations. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Aarhus University and an MSc in International Business from Hult International Business School.
Dan Zaitsev
Head of Marketing
Danylo Zaitsev is a marketing executive with 20 years of experience. At Partisia Blockchain, Danylo leads marketing efforts, bringing his expertise to drive innovation and growth in the blockchain. A Ukrainian-born Danylo has been in the technology and startup sector for almost 10 years and has helped numerous businesses grow from zero. He has earned several certifications in addition to his degree in Information Technology from the Dnipro University of Technology.
Bakyt Azimkanov
Head of Communications
Bakyt is an award-winning communications leader and seasoned journalist. He built his expertise working for renowned media houses like the BBC World Service, Thomson Reuters, and Radio Free Europe. He has since led communications teams at Cardano and EY, among others. Bakyt has received numerous accolades, including the European Union Scholarship and the George Soros Open Society Institute Scholarship. He holds two Master’s degrees in Business and Financial Journalism, and in Communications and Media Studies.
Maria Cocu
Community Growth and Engagement Associate
Maria Cocu has experience in client relationship management, community building, overseeing marketing initiatives, including IDO platform marketing campaign from ideation to execution. She builds communities and advises on effective tactics and methodologies. Through her experience in Web3 industry, she connects users with solutions, grows communities and expands the geographic reach. Maria holds a double degree in Marketing and Tourism from the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid.
Council
Kurt Nielsen
Co-Founder and President of the Foundation Council
Kurt holds a PhD in Economics and co-founded Partisia, Sepior, and Partisia Blockchain. He is an experienced entrepreneur and business developer who has turned advanced cryptography solutions into innovative high-tech businesses for over 15 years.
Brian Gallagher
Co-Founder, Member of the Foundation Council
Brian pioneered architecting and incorporating multiparty computation into blockchain use cases. His first demonstration of this innovation was as co-founder of instars.com, one of the world’s largest blockchain-powered social networks with over 250,000 verified users. Instars.com was the first to merge multiparty computation with blockchain to give users ownership and control over data.
Markus Spillmann
Member of the Foundation Council
Markus Spillmann specializes in legal representation and ecosystem management in the blockchain and crypto space. He advises companies and foundations in Switzerland, providing comprehensive support through a trusted network. Markus holds a law degree from the University of Zurich and a CAS in Global Social Entrepreneurship from the University of Basel.
Advisors
Nagib Aouini
Advisor
Nagib holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, and Cryptography from the French university ENSIMAG. He is a former CISO at SEBA Bank, one of the first licensed crypto banks. In 2020, Nagib founded DuoKey, a cybersecurity startup focused on encryption and key management using SEPIOR MPC technology. It enables customers to confidently move sensitive workloads to the cloud, where they can benefit from strong security controls that help meet internal and external compliance requirements. Nagib has more than 20 years of experience in digital identity and smartcards and has proven experience implementing complex technical projects. Previously, he held key positions in several large companies specialising in digital security, such as Gemalto, Thales Security, and Accenture. Nagib has worked with national governments on large-scale ID projects in Europe, North Africa, and the USA.
Christian Cachin
Consensus and Blockchain Advisor
Christian is a professor of computer science at the University of Bern, where he has been leading the Cryptology and Data Security Research Group since 2019. Before that, he worked for IBM Research, Zurich, for over 20 years. Christian has held visiting positions at MIT and EPFL and has taught at several universities during his career in industrial research.
He holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and is a Fellow at ACM and IEEE. He has received multiple IBM Outstanding Achievement Awards and served as the President of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (2014-2019). He is interested in all aspects of security in distributed systems and especially in cryptographic protocols, consistency, consensus, blockchains, and cloud-computing security. He has developed many cryptographic protocols, particularly for achieving consensus and executing distributed cryptographic operations over the Internet. In cloud computing, he has contributed to standards in storage security and developed protocols for key management.
Carsten Baum
Senior MPC and Blockchain Expert
Carsten is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Aarhus University. He is a recognised researcher and expert in applied cryptographic protocols, such as verifiable, secure computation and its combination with blockchains and efficient zero-knowledge protocols. He has published on various topics, including machine learning, blockchain, auditable protocols, and efficient MPC protocols.
Partisia
is the core developer of mainnet and provides managers, and personnel that support adoption. Partisia also runs activities that are not supported by the Foundation. No Partisia employees are employed directly by the Foundation.
Ivan Damgård
Professor, Chief Cryptographer at Partisia.com
Ivan is a Professor of Cryptography at Aarhus University. He is a co-founder of Cryptomathic, Partisia, and Sepior and is one of the top-cited researchers in cryptography. Ivan is a fellow of the IACR and received the 2015 RSA Award for Excellence in the Field of Mathematics.
Jesper Gravgaard*
VP of Engineering at Partisia.com
Jesper has extensive experience with successfully creating and operating complex software. His previous position was as a director responsible for development, operations, sales and marketing at the leading SaaS products—SurveyXact and Heart&Mind. He was responsible for thousands of customers and millions of users. He is passionate about programming languages and compilers. He has previously created a high-level modelling language for real-time systems, a DSL for filters and queries in datasets, and—most recently—a C-compiler for the MOS6502 CPU. Jesper is also an external examiner on computer science for MSc / Bachelor of Engineering examinations in Denmark.
Mark Bundgaard*
CPO of Partisia.com
Mark is a dynamic product officer focused on platform development, blockchain, and distributed computing at Partisia. Previously, Mark was head of engineering at Toit and Tribe Architect at Danske Bank, where he worked with AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, and hybrid cloud computing. He holds an MSc from Aarhus University.
More than 60 people
Staff at Partisia.com
PBC Apps team
deliver the Parti.com wallet, adoption via parti.com and provide manager and personnel that support adoption. PBC Apps also runs activities that are not supported by the Foundation. No PBC Apps are employed directly by the Foundation.
Brian Gallagher*
Director of PBC Apps
Brian pioneered architecting and incorporating multiparty computation into blockchain use cases. His first demonstration of this innovation was as co-founder of instars.com, one of the world’s largest blockchain-powered social networks with over 250,000 verified users. Instars.com was the first to merge multiparty computation with blockchain to give users ownership and control over data.
Amana Goldie
Marketing Associate at PBC Apps
Amana is a dedicated and ambitious digital marketing professional. She has a strong foundation in digital marketing, project management, communication, and problem-solving. She excels at managing diverse responsibilities and adapting to changing circumstances. At Partisia Blockchain, Amana leverages her expertise in digital marketing to drive brand awareness and engagement.
Vinson Leow
Head of Growth at PBC Apps
Vinson is a blockchain infrastructure investor and advisor. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is the Founder of 3Suite, CRT Labs, and Chargeasap, and the Head of Growth at Partisia Blockchain. With a successful track record of raising over $15 million across 11 campaigns, he actively contributes to developing web3 solutions and fosters ecosystem growth through strategic partnerships and mentorship roles.
Dmitrii Cretu
Head of Design at PBC Apps
Dmitrii is a highly skilled UX/UI lead focusing on designing meaningful interfaces, developing scalable design systems, and building effective design teams. As the Head of Design at Partisia Blockchain, he crafts user-centred, data-driven solutions to address user problems. Dmitrii has worked as a visual & motion designer for companies like Lisk and Insights Network, where he created animated videos, designed web pages, and produced various visual content for marketing purposes.