Alpen Sheth

Partner & Head of Policy and Research

2022

Senior Principal, Head of Policy & Research

2021 - 2022

Strategic Advisor

2021

Senior Technologist, Blockchain & Cofounder, FinX

2020 - 2021

Co-founded and lead FinX, an Initiative to accelerate universal financial inclusion with crypto and blockchain-based products and services through investments, pilots and building ecosystems for millions of unbanked and underbanked populations and businesses. FinX teams work across Latin America, Sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia to pilot and scale high-quality crypto solutions from self-hosted wallets, DeFi treasury and savings, stablecoin remittances, streaming payment, smart contract insurance, NFTs and more. Mercy Corps Ventures has a global network of financial inclusion advisors, fintech incubators (such as the Catalyst Fund, IDEO CoLab Ventures, and the Digital Financial Solutions Lab), and are leading financial inclusion policy and advisory for global consortia including the World Economic Forum, Diem Association and Celo’s Alliance for Prosperity.

Council Member, Digital Currency Governance Committee

2020

Council Member, Global Future Council, Cryptocurrency

2020 - 2022

Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Cryptocurrency

Founding Advisor

2018

Board Member, Social Impact Advisory

2021 - 2021

Council Member

2019 - 2021

Senior Technologist, Blockchain

2019 - 2020

Lead policy and technology strategy for Mercy Corps' blockchain and cryptocurrency initiatives and programs. Mercy Corps has ~6,000 staff working in over 40 countries globally, with an extensive presence in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. We work with under-served populations and last-mile communities to provide aid and build capacity with emerging technologies.

Visiting Faculty, School of Business & College of Urban and Public Affairs

2017 - 2020

Teach Executive Education in Blockchain and Emerging Technologies and curriculum development for new undergraduate and graduate programs in (1) Business Blockchain Certificate and (2) Emergency Management and Community Resilience.

Product Manager

2018 - 2019

▪ Manage product development using emerging technologies (blockchain and smart contracts): ▪ Lead development for blockchain insurance products in several countries focusing on financial analysis, feature specifications, pricing models and go-to-market strategy. ▪ Lead distributed agile engineering and UX team building on public and private blockchains for executing smart contracts and delivered using AWS servers for microservices/APIs for products, including: (1) first blockchain-based parametric hurricane insurance product for licensing and distribution in the Caribbean market; (2) Hyperledger Fabric-Ethereum product for supply chain risk. ▪ Manage new business partnerships and relations with customers and supported funding round with media engagements, new partnerships and marketing.

CSO, Co-Founder

2016 - 2018

▪ Led operational growth from inception to 10 engineers and managed team building a scalable inter-blockchain protocol for smart contracts. ▪ Cofounder and Board Treasurer.

PhD Researcher

2012 - 2017

Design and conducted qualitative/quantitative research examining global adoption of emerging technologies. Teaching Assistant for following courses: • Game Theory and Microeconomics • International Development • Public Policy and Planning • Research Methods in the Social Sciences • Spatial Statistics and Hazard Mapping • Disaster Resilience • Planning Economics: Regulation, Taxation and Real Estate