Mr. Kidd serves as our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors and provides strategic oversight of our development of tokenized-deposit products, bank-partner program management, and Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy. He is the lead architect of our blockchain banking vision, having spent the better part of a decade developing the building blocks that now make fully compliant, tokenized U.S. dollar deposits possible.
Mr. Kidd is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hard Yaka since 2010 and, since 2024, the majority shareholder in Vast Bank Holdings, a nationally chartered bank. As an investor, Mr. Kidd provided first money at Twitter, Square (Block), Coinbase, Robinhood, and Solana. Other early investments include Ripple, Uphold, and Brave. After working at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton from 1984 to 1990, Mr. Kidd took his first company, DMSC, public on the Nasdaq with $250 million in revenue and 3,200 staff globally. He later served in the payments division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2002 to 2004 and as a senior director at the financial regulatory consulting firm Promontory Financial Group from 2004 to 2010. Mr. Kidd also served as Chief Risk Officer at Ripple from 2013 to 2015. In 2024, Mr. Kidd was a nonpartisan candidate running for Congress in Nevada’s 2nd District. Mr. Kidd graduated with an A.B. from Brown University and earned an MBA from Yale University and an MPA in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Ms. Jenkinson serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and brings over 25 years of global governance experience, spanning multiple exchanges (NASDAQ, NZX, ASX) and extensive public board experience in both the financial services and medtech industries, spanning the role of chair and committees including audit and risk, capital, remuneration and nominating committees. Ms. Jenkinson currently serves as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Vast Holdings, Inc., the holding company for Vast Bank, N.A., from February 2025 to present, the Global Chair of Straker (ASX: STL) a global AI translation company, from July 2025 to present a director of The Vinyl Group (ASX: VNL), a digital music platform, from November 2025 to present. Prior to her current roles, she served as Chair (Australia, United States, United Kingdom) of MedAdvisor Solutions (ASX: MDR), a Medical Adherence business focused on delivery via the pharmacy sector, from February 2022 to March 2025, Director, Chair of the Rem Committee and member of the Audit Committee of FleetPartners Group (ASX: FPR), a diversified vehicle finance company, from January 2018 to August 2023, Chair of Guild Trustee Services, a superannuation fund based in Australia, from August 2016 to December 2023, Guild Group, a diversified financial services group providing insurance and pharmacy SASS, from August 2016 to December 2023, Harbour Asset Management, an asset and fund management company, from January 2018 to August 2024, and a board member (New Zealand) of Air New Zealand (NZX: AIR), New Zealand’s national carrier from June 2024 to October 2021. Prior to her governance career Linda co-founded two companies. Her first company was DMSC which she founded with Greg Kidd and served as Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dispatch Management Services (NASDAQ: DMSC), a provider of urgent, on-demand, point-to-point delivery services. She also founded LesConcierges, a global customer and employee experience company. With a client portfolio that included Visa, American Express, MBNA, Apple, Google, Texas Instruments, LC pioneered one of the first fully integrated global digital/voice/internet solutions. Earlier in her career Linda spent 11 years as a strategy consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, boards, and executive teams. As a Partner at A.T. Kearney, she helped build the global Financial Services Practice. She holds a B.B.S. from Massey University in Data Processing, Accounting, & Finance and a New Zealand/Australia Chartered Accountant qualification and a M.B.A. from the Wharton School in Finance.
Mr. Ellingson has served as an independent director since November 2023. Mr. Ellingson holds a BS, Pharmacy, from North Dakota State University and an Executive MBA from Babson College. From 2013 to present, Mr. Ellingson is Co-Founder of the Diabetes Leadership Council and Vice Chair, Global Initiatives. Since 2006 to present, Mr. Ellingson has been President of Global Diabetes Consulting LTD.
Mr. Ellingson retired from Eli Lilly and Company in May 2001 after having been involved as a leader of global diabetes for Lilly for more than half of his career. He has held several other positions at Lilly including Director of Pharmaceutical New Product Planning for gastrointestinal, skeletal, endocrine and infectious diseases, along with responsibility for marketed products in those areas in the late 1980s. Mr. Ellingson remains active with several professional and nonprofit organizations, including NDSU Research Park, the International Diabetes Federation, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the Nurse Practitioners Healthcare Foundation, and the American Diabetes Association®, for which he has held numerous leadership and committee roles over more than 20 years. He has been widely recognized for his contributions to diabetes research and advocacy, including Eli Lilly’s President’s Award and Research Award, the J.K. Lilly Award, NDSU’s Outstanding Alumni Award, the Charles H. Best Medal for Outstanding Service, the Wendell Mayes Jr. Award, and an Honorary Membership in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. He remains engaged in diabetes initiatives through the Diabetes Leadership Council, which he co-founded in 2013.
Mr. Erickson, lead director, was appointed to serve as President of the Science Division, Senior Vice President on August 6, 2025. Mr. Erickson previously served as Chairman of the Board from 2004 to 2011 and from 2015 to August 6, 2025. Mr. Erickson previously served as our Chief Executive Officer from November 2009 to April 2018 and January 2023 to August 6, 2025. A senior executive with more than 30 years of experience in the technology, telecommunications, software, and digital media industries, Mr. Erickson founded the Company and continues to lead its legacy science and research activities. He is formerly Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blue Frog Media, a mobile media and entertainment company; Chairman and CEO of eCharge Corporation, an Internet-based transaction procession company; Chairman, CEO and Co-founder of GlobalTel Resources, a provider of telecommunications services; Chairman, Interim President and CEO of Egghead Software, Inc., a software reseller where he was an original investor; Chairman and CEO of NBI, Inc.; and Co-founder of MicroRim, Inc., the database software developer. Earlier, Mr. Erickson practiced law in Seattle and worked in public policy in Washington, DC and New York, NY. Additionally, Mr. Erickson has been an angel investor and board member of a number of public and private technology companies. In addition to his business activities, Mr. Erickson was Chairman and a member of the Board of Trustees from 2010 to 2021 of Central Washington University where he received his BA degree. He also holds an MA from the University of Wyoming and a JD from the University of California, Davis. He is licensed to practice law in the State of Washington.
Admiral Owens has served as an independent director since May 2018. He is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Red Bison Technology Group, a provider of high-speed telecom networks for commercial properties, and serves as Chairman of Visionary Vehicles, Kyrrex (a European cryptocurrency exchange), and Massif (an electric-bicycle company). He also serves on the boards of Siply and Compass and has previously chaired or served on the boards of more than 25 public and private companies, including CenturyLink (now Lumen), SAP USA, Daimler, British American Tobacco, Telstra, Nortel Networks, and Polycom. From 2007 to 2015 he was Chairman and Senior Partner of AEA Investors Asia and Vice Chairman of the NYSE for Asia.
A retired four-star U.S. Navy Admiral, Owens served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second-ranking U.S. military officer, with responsibility for post-Cold War force restructuring and for advancing technology integration across the armed services. He was Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet during Operation Desert Storm and earlier served as Senior Military Assistant to Secretaries of Defense Carlucci and Cheney. A career submariner, he commanded the USS Sam Houston, USS Michigan, and USS City of Corpus Christi. He is widely recognized as an architect of the Revolution in Military Affairs for bringing commercial innovation into defense operations.
Admiral Owens is a 1962 honor graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in mathematics and earned degrees in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University and a master’s degree in management from George Washington University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Institute. His decorations include France’s Légion d’Honneur and the highest civil awards of Indonesia and Sweden. He has authored three books on national security, including Lifting the Fog of War and China–US 2039: The Endgame?
Mr. Pepper has served as an independent director since April 2006. Mr. Pepper founded Pepcom, Inc., which became an industry leader in producing press-only technology showcase events in the United States and internationally, in 1980. He sold his stake in the Company and retired as a partner at the end of 2018. Earlier in his career, Mr. Pepper founded DigitalFocus, a pioneering newsletter on digital imaging distributed to leading technology influencers worldwide, and worked as a journalist and columnist covering the emerging personal computer industry. His work on technology and innovation has appeared in The New York Times, Fortune, PC Magazine, Men’s Journal, Working Woman, PC Week, Popular Science, and other publications.
Mr. Pepper was educated at Union College in Schenectady, New York, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He remains active in nonprofit and private-company board work and in 2017 founded Mulberry Tree Films, a nonprofit organization that supports high-quality independent documentary films and other creative projects focused on human potential and innovation. Mulberry Tree Films produced the acclaimed documentary The Gates of Shinto and continues to develop additional projects.
Mr. Takesako has served as an independent director since December 2012. Mr. Takesako has held senior executive positions with Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd. and its affiliates since 1983. Over his tenure with Sumitomo, he has held leadership roles including General Manager of Sales and Marketing for the Micro Technology Division, Executive Director of SPP Process Technology Systems, and General Manager of Corporate Strategic Planning. He later became Chief Executive Officer of M2M Technologies, Inc., a Sumitomo-invested company, and in 2017 founded At Signal, Inc., where he serves as Chief Executive Officer following its acquisition of M2M’s operations. Mr. Takesako earned a Bachelor of Social Science degree from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
