Crypto Hiring: Advocacy group names new leaders ahead of election

Bitcoin miner Hut 8 and Starknet Foundation find replacements for executives stepping down

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An advocacy group focused on mobilizing the crypto community has beefed up its ranks ahead of the November election. 

The nonprofit — Stand With Crypto — added Logan Dobson as its executive director and Sabrina Siddiqui as its senior communications adviser on Wednesday.

While Dobson will lead education efforts, “swing state activations” and voter registration, Siddiqui is set to oversee communications efforts. Nick Carr, who has worked as a chief strategist for Stand With Crypto since August 2023 according to his LinkedIn page, will move into a senior adviser role. 

Read more: Trump’s crypto ‘promises’ at Bitcoin 2024

Dobson was a senior aide to Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and formerly worked as the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s director of data and analytics. Siddiqui previously led Meta’s trust and safety communications and was a spokesperson for tax and economic policy in the Obama administration’s Treasury department.

A day after naming Dobson and Siddiqui to their positions, Stand With Crypto selected state chapter presidents to lead “grassroots efforts” in five battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

Chapter presidents include Devils DAO founding member Shelton Beascochea; Atlanta Blockchain Center business development leader Anthony Mathis; Cleveland Clinic financial analyst Maryana Ryumshin; Taking the Hill executive director Max Giuliana; and Awen founder Ian McCullough.

Read more: Galaxy’s Novogratz ‘hopeful’ VP Harris will be pro-crypto

Outside of politics, bitcoin miner Hut 8 appointed Sean Glennan as its new chief financial officer starting on Aug. 21. He will replace Shenif Visram, who is stepping down for “personal, family-related reasons,” the company said Tuesday.

Glennan spent 13 years at Citigroup, most recently as a managing director focused on global power, utilities and renewables in Citigroup Global Markets’ investment banking unit.

“In particular, his experience advising on transformative M&A deals with some of the largest players in power and utilities will be instrumental as we scale our platform with a focus on creative structuring and prudent capital allocation,” Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said in a statement.

Read more: New Hut 8 CEO prepared to make ‘hard decisions’ to nix inefficiencies

Starknet Foundation, in yet another executive shift earlier this week, said it would be switching its leader.

Diego Oliva, the foundation’s first CEO (in the role since March 2023), is stepping down, the organization said Tuesday. James Strudwick is set to step into the executive director role.

“Now that a strong team and structure have been established, Diego and the foundation board believe it is an opportune moment to hand over the baton,” Starknet said in a statement

Strudwick joined Starknet Foundation in January as head of ecosystem growth. He brings years of Web3 experience to his new position, including work advancing DeFi, as well as layer-1 and layer-2 scaling projects, the organization said. 

Other hiring news

  • Tether is looking to double its headcount by the middle of next year, Bloomberg News reported. The report, which cites CEO Paolo Ardoino, comes after the stablecoin issuer posted a net profit of $5.2 billion during the first half of 2024.
  • In case you missed it, David Swain — a former communications executive at Facebook and Instagram — joined crypto venture capital firm Paradigm as its chief marketing officer. 
  • Also last week, Singapore-based Tokenize Xchange added Carney Mak as its chief strategy officer.

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