Please meet our brilliant minds.
-We’re a modest group with experience across multiple industries and a singular passion for helping change the world for the better. Our varied backgrounds help us create an exchange you all deserve. Please read our About post in the blog for more information on the Abacas History.
Core Team.
Mark VanRoon
Head of Product Development & Co-Founder
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Mark is a serial inventor and product developer with over 20 years experience in banking and digital banking. He founded Midpoint www.midpoint.com [formerly BuyFX Ltd], an FX service delivery firm; holds a USPTO for a multiparty matching algorithm; & was global head of product development for RBC Dexia IS, an international custodian bank. Since 2013, he has focused his attention on digital value and data transfer.
Vince Small
Head of Technology & Co-Founder
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Vince is a technology entrepreneur and co-founded Financial Software Systems (FSS) in 1992. With a proven track record to take an idea from conception to a multi-million dollar business, it is Vince’s business acumen, experience and technical expertise that sets Abacas’ technical leadership apart. Vince developed the financial services application Spectrum, which is a front to back platform used by wholesale banks, brokers and Wealth Management banks. Spectrum supports cross asset, end-to-end transaction processing, including FX, Interest Rates, Fixed Income and Commodities.
Wouter Bijl
Head of Public Affairs
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Wouter studied Human Technology a study focused entirely on the link between humans and the way technology improves our life. He thus understands the need for blockchain solutions like Abacas like no other and has been involved with blockchain enterprises since 2015. With a background as Microsoft Certified System Engineer and Network Administrator he is able to make the connection between the (blockchain) technology and the humans which make up our great communities.
AmbassadorsListed below are the public Ambassadors, our community members helping out the project on the frontline. Want to help out as well? Sign up today!
Robert Schmidt
Lead Content Creator Ambassador
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Robert is a professional writer in and outside of the blockchain universe. He has a broad background as special Nutritionist, Health Coach and ICO Analyst. His dominant passion is writing, and he feels no boundaries in doing so.
Emmanuel Powell-Clark
General Ambassador
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Emmanuel is an all round tech enthusiast with a love for helping small companies grow to rapid scale through expertise in software engineering, product management and digital marketing. After leaving Imperial College Business School he has participated in the senior leadership of two multi-sided marketplaces in travel and education technology. In 2018, he engineered data analysis pipelines and algorithms for the world’s largest advertising agencies to analyse vast live markets and news signal data in real-time allowing live bidding on advertising based on predictive signals to provide a competitive edge for clients including Samsung, Audi and British Airways.
Stoyan Vlahovski
Brand Ambassador
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Stoyan studies “International Business” at HTW Berlin and specialises in Social Media marketing, with a focus on Facebook Ads. He understands not only the tools but the strategies to drive community growth. As a Campaign Manager at INTEGR8 he participated in numerous successful marketing campaigns. Stoyan is the organizer of Young Entrepreneurs Berlin MeetUp group which is a community of young, motivated and ambitious entrepreneurs.
Chuks Gabriel
Social Media Ambassador
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Chuks is a graduate and BSc holder in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Rivers states University Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He is the very first Ambassador to sign up with us and one of the most dedicated guys around.
Kai Bloetjes
Lead Marketing Ambassador
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In 2014 Kai met the awesome world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. With expertise in business development, community support and bounty campaigns he loves to help projects and advice them with new ideas or improvements.
Divij Sood
Social Media Ambassador
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Born in the Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh, India, Divij is a young Blockchain Enthusiast having a multidimensional and multidisciplinary experience ranging form Marketing and Community Management. Working with several blockchain projects he has not only the skills but also the network.
AdvisorsWe've got a very skilled team of advisors with years of experiance in their respected fields. They have already proven to be very effective!
Dan Raykhman
Advisor
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Dan is a FinTech veteran, entrepreneur, inventor, and mentor. He has been developing software solutions for electronic trading in Foreign Exchange and other financial markets for years. He was a founder and CTO of first retail currency ECN – ChoiceFX. He was the Head of product and IP at Currex Group, designed ETF’s and is considerd a leader in electronic trading.
David Wong
Advisor
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David holds a BSc (Hons) in Engineering from the University of Liverpool and MA (Distinction) in Management from the University of Brighton. He is a London-based entrepreneur and investor in disruptive technologies and previously Managing Director of Expadis Capital. David has extensive experience in building, advising technology companies and helping businesses scale internationally. David started out as a client of Midpoint. He subsequently invested in the Company and joined the Board of Directors.
Raghunathan Muralidharan (Murali)
Advisor
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Raghunathan is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Tri-Star Group. Prior to this, Murali was Partner-in-Charge – Audit & Advisory Services, Partner – Audit Risk Management , and Partner – Ethics & Independence at KPMG, the global audit, tax and advisory services firm in Papua New Guinea. Murali is an accredited Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience. He is a qualified Cost Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Madras. He is also certified in Risk and Information Systems Control.
Adam Mezhvinsky
Advisor
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Adam B. Fin. LLB (Hons.) is a co-founder of Invox Finance – a global decentralised invoice lending platform aiming to solve small business cash-flow problems with accessible and low Interest Financing. A graduate of a Bachelor of Finance and Bachelor of Laws at the University of Adelaide, Adam is also a New Colombo Plan Scholar, Adam has studied in Indonesia (Microfinance) and Japan (Business Culture). Adam has had experience working as a Data Analyst at ABR Finance, Analyst at the Commonwealth Government, Managing Partner of Quintessential eSports, and Law Clerk at Adco Legal as well as a Marketing Manager at WBH Legal and Smartcollect(SA).
Mark O’Byrne
Advisor
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Mark founded Goldcore nearly 14 years ago in 2003. He strongly beliefs that due to the significant macroeconomic and geopolitical risks of today, saving and investing a portion of one’s wealth in gold bullion is both wise and prudent. He currently is the Marketing and Research Director at Goldcore. He has an B.A. in History and Greek and Roman Civilisation from University College Dublin and this gives him an insight and a prism with which to view today’s turbulent world. He contributes to media internationally and takes part in the Reuters, CNBC and Bloomberg gold and precious metal surveys. We at Abacas are proud of the fact that he is now an acknowledged expert on precious metals and Goldcore’s research is respected as informative and enlightening. They correctly warned about mortgage and debt bubbles in Ireland, the UK and the U.S. in 2005 and 2006 prior to the bubbles bursting.
Charles Ives
Advisor
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Charles Ives is an accomplished Senior Executive with more than 20 years of success in the financial services and retail industries. Leveraging extensive experience with overcoming obstacles without increasing spending, Charles is a valuable asset for companies in growth mode and looking to solve problems on a thin budget. His broad areas of expertise include self-directed retirement account administration, independent custodian relationships, institutional custody, IRS regulations, compliance and audit functions, alternative investments, real estate, problem-solving, and precious metals.
Dr. Dylan Attwell-Duval
Advisor
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Dylan is a number theorist with a PhD in Mathematics from McGill University. With his expertise in discrete mathematics (the language of cryptography), Dylan translates abstract theory from academia into algorithms that can be used by the Abacas team in the following areas – multiparty matching, consensus algorithms, automated market making and ZKP [zero knowledge proofs]. Dylan is Abacas’ fact-checker, analyst and mathematical validator.
Bogdan Fiedur
Advisor
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Bogdan Fiedur is an influential blockchain and cryptocurrency expert, investor, entrepreneur, smart contract developer and presenter of blockchain and smart contract programming workshops in his local community of Winnipeg. As a President of Blockchainexperts.io he worked with 10+ successful ICOs to date and is currently advising many promising startups. With a BS degree in Computer Science from University of Manitoba, Bogdan has over 20 years of IT experience and has acquired intimate knowledge with inner-workings of smart contract development from conception to execution supported be deep understanding of current Blockchain industry.
