Centre Consortium Introduces Team Members Who Will Continue to Drive Global Adoption of Digital Currencies and Blockchain-Based Financial Services

World’s First Standards and Governance Consortium for Stablecoins Will Raise the Bar for Trust and Compliance During Period of Rapid Adoption

Centre, the consortium founded by Circle and Coinbase to provide standards governance for USD Coin (USDC), which has become the world’s fastest growing dollar digital currency, introduced the team that will be harmonizing standards in the coming years and supporting new partners as it looks to expand its membership.

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“The addition of new, experienced leaders at Centre will help support continued USDC adoption and trust in the marketplace, while harmonizing governance and our open technology roadmap.”

Centre’s newest team members, including John Shipman, who joins from his role as a Partner at PwC, bring immense experience and talent from the digital asset and financial services industries, including Circle, Fenwick & West and Clearfield Capital.

“We assembled this team to ensure we have the right balance of talent to allow us to drive significant growth while maintaining the highest standards of integrity, compliance and trust,” said David Puth, CEO of Centre, which has contributed to the governance, technology roadmap and open-source nature of USDC and its adoption around the world.

Puth took the helm of Centre in December, 2020 and has been joined since the outset by Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle, founder of Xdotzero, and architect of both USDC and Centre, as a strategic advisor. He has presided over a stretch of growth that has seen USDC go from $3 billion to more than $27 billion. To build on this momentum, Centre will be onboarding not just additional staff, but will also soon be opening up membership in the Consortium to eligible organizations.

Puth spent 19 years at J.P. Morgan where he served in a variety of senior global leadership roles with oversight of the bank’s interest rate derivatives, FX, commodities and emerging markets businesses. He also served as a member of the JPMorgan Chase Executive Committee and the Investment Bank Management Committee. He then went on to lead CLS, the systemically important financial market utility, the world’s largest multi currency cash settlement system.

“The growth of USDC and the opportunity for Centre to play a larger role in changing the global financial landscape is truly extraordinary,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle. “The addition of new, experienced leaders at Centre will help support continued USDC adoption and trust in the marketplace, while harmonizing governance and our open technology roadmap.”

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In his first nine months as CEO of Centre, Puth has brought on six new team members including:

• John Shipman, Chief Commercial Officer
  • Upon joining Centre, John will drive the expansion of Consortium’s network of partners and potential members around the world. Joining from PwC Australia, John has run their global cryptocurrency business as well as Financial Markets Consulting for South East Asia. John has worked on stablecoin projects since 2015 including Barclays, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Standard Chartered Bank amongst others, as well as advising CBDC projects in the UK, SGP, South Africa, Indonesia.
• Mark duBose, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
  • Mark joins Centre from Consortium member Circle. He brings deep expertise in the fields of compliance and risk management and will advise on the development of membership governance and Centre standards and policies. Mark draws on his legal and investment banking experience to build out and right-size risk and compliance standards.
• Beth Zolkind, Chief Financial Officer
  • Beth joins Centre after 13 years as CFO of the Robin Hood Foundation in New York. She is responsible for the financial management of Centre’s accounts, ledgers and reporting systems, working closely with the CEO and Consortium members to advise on budgetary decisions and ensure financial soundness.
• Chad Richman, Senior Counsel
  • As Senior Legal Counsel, Chad oversees Centre’s legal operations, weighing in on regulatory matters and Centre standards. With a breadth of blockchain experience, Chad joins Centre from Fenwick & West, where he was a key member of their blockchain practice. Chad previously had roles in the tax and financial institutions groups at Davis Polk & Wardwell.
• Jessica Gardner, Business Operations Manager
  • Jessica brings a diverse background to Centre to support the team as Business Operations Manager. She is responsible for logistical and organizational objectives, and assists with marketing and strategy initiatives. Jessica worked in institutional development before joining global architecture firm SOM and, more recently, Clearfield Capital.
• Kevin Mills, Graduate Project Manager
  • Since joining Centre, Kevin has made material contributions in a number of key areas, taking on project management and research roles in major initiatives. Kevin is currently pursuing his MBA at MIT’s Sloan School of Management where he is a leader in the blockchain community after several years in tech-focused strategy consulting and institutional investment management.