Kraken Lands Five Big Hires

By far the most important part of Kraken’s infrastructure is the people. As we continue to work through a period of exponential growth, the main challenge is to expand our team with great people aligned to our vision of delivering the best exchange experience in the industry. We’d like to announce five big hires who will lead in key areas of our business. These hires reveal a lot about who we are and where we are going and we couldn’t be more excited to have them aboard!

Matt Mason (Chief Marketing Officer)

Building out the marketing function at Kraken is a critical next step for us as we continue to grow our business and expand our product offering. Matt is a marketing veteran with 20 years of experience, ready to push us into hyper-speed. He has driven the growth of some of the most popular products on the Internet, launched (and re-launched) global brands, and also wrote The Pirate’s Dilemma, a best-selling book on disruption and innovation.    

Matt joins us from Sony Pictures, where he was Studio Head at 1-800-N0TH1NG, a secretive innovation lab focused on game mechanics. From 2011 to 2015, he served as head of marketing and Chief Content Officer at BitTorrent Inc., a media and technology company serving 170 million active monthly users. Matt began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London. He worked in the music and advertising industries at companies including Warner Music, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Mediacom. At age 23, he became the founding Editor-in-Chief of RWD, helping grow it into the largest music magazine by circulation in the UK.

Welcome aboard Matt!

Steve Hunt (VP of Engineering)

A high-caliber engineering team is critical to Kraken’s mission of delivering a superior platform to our clients – one that is secure, fast, scalable, user friendly, and rich with advanced features. To advance this vision, the VP of Engineering must have extensive experience with trading technologies, leading global distributed teams and forging strategic partnerships.

For over 20 years, Steve has led highly successful engineering teams in the construction of algorithmic trading networks across major global financial markets. He joins Kraken from his role as CTO at Jump Trading, a leading global quant-based trading firm that has recently been focusing on digital assets. Steve oversaw the growth and development of a state-of-the-art, ultra-low latency trading system operating in more than 70 global venues. He led an engineering team of over 120 members across three continents.  Steve previously was the VP of Enterprise Technology at Goldman Sachs (and subsidiaries), where he led multiple teams in the development, maintenance, and support of electronic and floor-based trading systems.

Welcome aboard Steve!

Nelson Minier (Head of OTC Sales & Trading)

Kraken recently expanded our OTC (Over the Counter) trade desk to a team of eighteen professional traders and support staff stationed throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The Kraken OTC exchange caters to institutions and high net-worth individuals worldwide who need privacy and deep liquidity to fill large block orders. We beat competitors by offering superb, hi-touch service at every step ranging from initial consultation and expert market insight, all the way through final settlement.

Nelson has almost 20 years of experience managing trading desks for top firms, including Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Citibank, UBS and Morgan Stanley. In addition to trading digital assets, Nelson previously traded credit derivatives, sovereign bonds and corporates bonds in both the emerging markets and the high yield sectors. Nelson has dramatically elevated the performance of every team he has led and is widely regarded as a top trading manager.

Welcome aboard Nelson!

Bob Zagotta (Head of Business Operations and Strategy)

An industry leader implements strategic innovations and optimizations in key areas of the business at each stage of growth. Kraken’s Business Operations and Strategy Department helps the executive team chart the overall strategic direction of the company by identifying the highest-impact initiatives across all major business areas, and leading execution to drive growth. The head of this team must have great knowledge of the business and extensive experience in business strategy and operations.

Bob has a 20+ year distinguished track record in developing and launching new businesses, driving growth, penetrating international markets, and leading transformational change at the enterprise level. Bob joins Kraken from his role as Senior Managing Director of Strategy & Execution at CME Group, the world’s leading global derivatives marketplace. During his tenure at CME, the company stock tripled in value and exceeded 2x the performance of the S&P 500, after underperforming the S&P in the prior four years. Among other responsibilities, Bob led the firm’s $60M corporate VC fund and made numerous investments in cutting-edge fintech, blockchain, cryptocurrency and related technologies that delivered 70% ROI. Bob also has extensive M&A experience, having led M&A strategy and post-merger integration for deals ranging from $10M to $12B.

Welcome aboard Bob!

Mary Beth Buchanan (General Counsel)

Operating in a heavily regulated space, a strong legal team is essential to our business. We advocate for regulation that protects clients without unnecessarily hindering growth or innovation, and are careful to comply with all relevant legal requirements and licensing in the areas we operate. We proactively monitor the evolving legal landscape around digital assets and build strong working relationships with regulators in the US and abroad.

Mary Beth’s distinguished legal career spans over 30 years, including 8 years as a US Attorney and positions at the United Nations and Department of Justice. She joins Kraken from her role as Partner at Bryan Cave LLP, where she was Chair of the firm’s digital currency team. Her practice concentration at the firm included corporate compliance and SEC, CFTC and FINRA enforcement matters. Mary Beth has almost 5 years of experience representing digital currency businesses, including exchanges. She will oversee Kraken’s legal department and help us build out the legal team.

Welcome aboard Mary Beth!

Kraken is Hiring!

Our new hires would like the community to know that we are hiring in their departments and many other areas. Check out our careers page to see if you or someone you know might be a good fit to join the Kraken team!