Governance Advisory Committee

CTO and Co-Founder of Algo Foundry, a web3 venture studio focused on the Algorand Blockchain.

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Representing one of Algo Foundry's portfolio projects, Messina.one, a cross-chain protocol that allows any project on Algorand to seamlessly bridge tokens to other blockchains, with the ability to support liquidity and wrapped models, NFTs and more.

Rylie is a passion driven leader that has had lifelong interests in helping others and finance, specifically where these interests intersect. She has been involved in crypto since 2017 and is a firm believer in proof of stake blockchains, specifically Algorand, and how they will be part of this solution.

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Rylie's previous experiences in startups and finance have taught her how to ignore external noise and maintain a clear vision, while her athletic experience has taught her how to build and unify the teams she is a part of.

Andrew Kotulak is the Head of DeFi at Humble DeFi, one of Algorands top AMM style DEX. 

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Coming from a background in traditional finance with a Bachelors of Finance from the University of Michigan, he dove head first into the blockchain space in early 2021. Passionate about Algorand, he started Algonauts and hosted the first ever Algorand related event, AlgoFest. He has been an active member in the ecosystem and has helped advise over a dozen companies building on Algorand.

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Benedetto Biondi is the CEO of Folks Finance. He has three years of experience at Blockchain Italia as Blockchain Innovation manager. His studies have included a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Politecnico di Milano and a master's degree in engineering Innovation and Management at Cardiff University, where he achieved distinction with a specialization in Data Analysis.

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Benedetto is currently a lecturer at ELDA (Economics and Law for Digital Asset - University of Florence) and BIM (Blockchain Innovation Manager – Association Italia4Blockchain), where he teaches at DeFi lectures.

Matt is the Chief Executive Officer & Founder of MakerX, an Australian venture builder dedicated to the creation of robust, quality software tailored specifically for startups and ventures. MakerX believes in applying essential software delivery principles such as deployment, infrastructure and test automation to Web3 applications.

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Matt has supported teams in delivering a number of successful internal and client ventures accelerated by the brilliant technology options Algorand provides to developers. In previous roles Matt has supported 600+ people as the CEO of a major software consulting and led significant organizational change as an Executive within the largest Australian telco.

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Michel Dahdah is the Co-Founder of C3, a self-custodial exchange, and Co-Founder of Rand Labs, a company building leading infrastructure on Algorand.

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Prior to Rand Labs, Michel was the founder and managing director of AlgoLedge, a venture fund focused on fintech and blockchain investments and Partner at Algo Depth, a company helping asset managers apply artificial intelligence to their investment strategies.

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Dean Tyler is a life-long avid gamer and serial entrepreneur which set him up well to start the Algo Gaming Guild (AGG). AGG is an organization that drives blockchain gaming adoption, specifically on Algorand, through informational mediums and upcoming tech-powered tools.

Doug Broughton is the founder of Vendible, a web3 infrastructure company building solutions that provide data and asset controls for open blockchains. Vendible incorporates privacy-preserving zero-knowledge proofs with decentralized identifiers (DIDs), and smart contracts keep your data and finances secure and accessible. Integrated identity helps developers know who they are dealing with, even if they are anonymous, and losing keys doesn't mean losing funds.

Victor Mapunga is a seasoned serial entrepreneur from Zimbabwe with experience in Blockchain, Crypto, FinTech & E-commerce, amalgamated with a focus on emerging markets and the role of investment in the developing world. He is Co-Founder & CEO of FlexFinTx, creators of FlexID, a digital identity wallet which aims to unlock access to financial, insurance, healthcare & government services to over 400 Million Africans.

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He is the Co-Founder & MD of Mutapa, one of Zimbabwe’s fastest growing E-Commerce & FinTech startups, serving hundreds of merchants and empowering businesses to expand their markets through a global marketplace. He is a previous speaker at the Blockchain Africa Conference & has received training in entrepreneurship & technology from Yale University, M.I.T. & King’s College, London respectively.

Michael Cotton is the CPO at Optio Capital, an Australian Venture Capital firm dedicated to identifying and investing in the most promising early-stage Web3 and Blockchain companies.

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Prior to Optio Capital, Michael successfully founded several companies in both Web3 and more traditional industries where he focused on product and business strategy. He has also been a part of the Algorand ecosystem since mainnet launch as a community member, investor and founder.

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Matt Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Hivemind Capital Partners, a crypto-focused investment firm dedicated to blockchain technologies, crypto companies and the digital assets ecosystem. Founded in 2021, Hivemind leverages a converging multi-strategy approach to create start-to-finish capital solutions for entrepreneurs, and provides category-leading infrastructure to institutionalize crypto investing.  

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Prior to Hivemind, Mr. Zhang spent 15 years in the financial services industry, and most recently as the global head of structured products trading at Citi, the leading global investment bank. In addition to his trading business responsibility, Matt created the bank's spread products investment technologies team, or SPRINT, to focus on venture equity investments in the fintech space. Matt was also a founding partner of Citi Impact Fund, which makes equity investments in "double bottom line" companies to help address society's most pressing challenges.

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Matt holds an MST in Real Estate from University of Cambridge and a BS in Economics from the London School of Economics. Mr. Zhang is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).

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Agash is the CTO of Zest and Rand Gallery, Zest Capital is the market-leading DAO and Rand Gallery is the biggest NFT marketplace on Algorand. Working with customers like Eterna Capital and Borderless Capital, Zest helps create and manage enterprise-ready DAOs. 

Agash has an extensive crypto background working in the space for the last 5 years. He is a degen at heart with an extensive Algorand NFT portfolio. He is a graduate from King’s College London and a serial entrepreneur having sold his last blockchain business in the UK in the healthcare space.

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John is Co-Founder and CFO of TxnLab Inc., the development company behind NFDomains, the most widely adopted naming service on Algorand.

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John graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Finance and started working as an accountant for multiple start-ups. Crypto soon became a dominant part of his life and he began contributing to various projects before co-founding TxnLab. John has been trading NFTs since 2019 and is well-versed in all things degen.

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