AS

Alpen Sheth

MIT Alum | VC | Founder | Dedicated to accelerating global financial inclusion across the world

Miami, Florida

Skills

Research
International Development
Policy Analysis
Product Management
Product Development
Agile Project Management
Grant Writing
Data Analysis
User Experience (UX)
Statistics
Strategy
Project Management
Program Management
Analysis
Project Planning
Remote Sensing
Strategic Planning
Sustainability
Proposal Writing
GIS

Work Experience

  • 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

2019 - 2021

  • Board Member, Social Impact Advisory

    2021 - 2021

  • Council Member

    2019 - 2021

2019 - 2020

  • 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.

2018 - 2019

  • 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