Hadley Stern
Marinade | Chief Commercial Officer
Hadley is the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Marinade, a leading company in the Solana DeFi ecosystem that has built the chain’s first and most robust non-custodial native staking protocol. He helps TradFi institutions explore, then decide how to benefit from the innovation happening on Solana. Hadley has been working in crypto assets and blockchain (for institutions and for startups/scaleups), since 2014 when he was SVP of Fidelity Labs. This is Fidelity’s in-house technology incubator where, from 2007 onwards, he led the design, development and product management teams to research and pilot several emerging technologies for the business divisions, including wearable computing, VR/AR, mobile applications (including the company’s first-ever app and app brokerage), AI, and others. He knew then that blockchain and cryptocurrencies would become increasingly relevant to global finance, and, at the behest of senior management, he began the company’s blockchain-specific incubator and digital currency group as SVP of the newly minted Bitcoin Incubator. Here, they developed Fidelity’s earliest digital asset products, including the ability to donate bitcoin to Fidelity Charitable, as well as launching Fidelity’s first bitcoin mining operation. These early successes put Fidelity on the map as one of the only institutions embracing crypto, which led him to join and help build Fidelity’s Digital Asset Services division in 2016. This brought the firm fully into the web3 world with several digital asset-related products and services, including the trading and custody of digital assets. Eager to bring more institutions on board, he jumped to the service side in 2018 to become COO at the blockchain infrastructure company Bloq, where he helped the firm significantly boost its revenue and diversify its product roadmap for enterprises. After Bloq, he headed up the AWS Innovation Lab, which allowed him to work with global brands on technological experimentation and deployment - and re-explore other emerging technologies, including AI, quantum computing, and others. From there, he was recruited to lead global digital asset custody for the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM), where they launched the industry’s first bank-grade platform for digital asset custody (on bitcoin and Ethereum). While his day job remains focused on crypto assets, he also advises emerging technology businesses and startups in other sectors, including data storage/security (as well as blockchain analytics, institutional DeFi, and other web3 areas). This allows him to combine his other professional experiences, including the 17 years he spent at Fidelity and his training in product and design, to help new companies grow. Society-shifting technologies, like blockchain, require innovation of all types to thrive - not just in software & hardware, but business ops, marketing, regulatory, risk, compliance, security, design mindsets, too. He received a B.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design as well as from Concordia University, where he studied Western civilization, culture, and design (which is why he firmly believes an understanding/appreciation of the liberal arts is critical for anyone (indeed, everyone) working on societal-shifting technologies!)
Hadley is the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Marinade, a leading company in the Solana DeFi ecosystem that has built the chain’s first and most robust non-custodial native staking protocol. He helps TradFi institutions explore, then decide how to benefit from the innovation happening on Solana. Hadley has been working in crypto assets and blockchain (for institutions and for startups/scaleups), since 2014 when he was SVP of Fidelity Labs. This is Fidelity’s in-house technology incubator where, from 2007 onwards, he led the design, development and product management teams to research and pilot several emerging technologies for the business divisions, including wearable computing, VR/AR, mobile applications (including the company’s first-ever app and app brokerage), AI, and others. He knew then that blockchain and cryptocurrencies would become increasingly relevant to global finance, and, at the behest of senior management, he began the company’s blockchain-specific incubator and digital currency group as SVP of the newly minted Bitcoin Incubator. Here, they developed Fidelity’s earliest digital asset products, including the ability to donate bitcoin to Fidelity Charitable, as well as launching Fidelity’s first bitcoin mining operation. These early successes put Fidelity on the map as one of the only institutions embracing crypto, which led him to join and help build Fidelity’s Digital Asset Services division in 2016. This brought the firm fully into the web3 world with several digital asset-related products and services, including the trading and custody of digital assets. Eager to bring more institutions on board, he jumped to the service side in 2018 to become COO at the blockchain infrastructure company Bloq, where he helped the firm significantly boost its revenue and diversify its product roadmap for enterprises. After Bloq, he headed up the AWS Innovation Lab, which allowed him to work with global brands on technological experimentation and deployment - and re-explore other emerging technologies, including AI, quantum computing, and others. From there, he was recruited to lead global digital asset custody for the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM), where they launched the industry’s first bank-grade platform for digital asset custody (on bitcoin and Ethereum). While his day job remains focused on crypto assets, he also advises emerging technology businesses and startups in other sectors, including data storage/security (as well as blockchain analytics, institutional DeFi, and other web3 areas). This allows him to combine his other professional experiences, including the 17 years he spent at Fidelity and his training in product and design, to help new companies grow. Society-shifting technologies, like blockchain, require innovation of all types to thrive - not just in software & hardware, but business ops, marketing, regulatory, risk, compliance, security, design mindsets, too. He received a B.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design as well as from Concordia University, where he studied Western civilization, culture, and design (which is why he firmly believes an understanding/appreciation of the liberal arts is critical for anyone (indeed, everyone) working on societal-shifting technologies!)