Chris Georgen
Founder and Chief Architect

As Founder and Chief Architect, Chris leads the design of Topl's protocol and directs its business and legal operations. A graduate of Rice University, he obtained degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy. During his time in college, Chris performed multidisciplinary research focused on emergent phenomena in complex systems and developed the core ideas that inspired Topl's development. He has a deep interest in the application of new technologies to economic and financial problems and is motivated by the potential for new economic systems to improve standards of living around the world.

Jim Aman
Co-Founder & Voice of Reason

As a senior graduate student in the Killian Research Group, Jim manages the quantum degenerate atomic strontium apparatus; one of only three such experiments in the world. Jim's work focuses on the ultracold regime dominated by quantum mechanics where the search for new phenomena and novel states of matter can be explored. As a physicist, Jim has a unique, and ever growing, toolbox of skills that allows him to shrewdly approach problems while maintaining perspective of the overall goal. This holistic approach makes Jim as comfortable debugging code or analyzing a statistical model as he is developing a plan to study the underlying quantum physics of magnetism and superconductivity.

Nick Edmonds
Co-Founder & Lead Developer

After solidifying a love for programming in his high school robotics team, Nicholas went on to graduate from the University of Houston with a degree in computer science. His former projects range from computer vision and virtual reality to neural nets and distributed computing. After reading the seminal Bitcoin whitepaper shortly after it was released in 2008, he has kept an eye on the burgeoning cryptocurrency market. Nick now leads technical development for the Topl protocol working with the rest of the technical team to continue pushing the potential of blockchain technology.

Kim Raath
Co-Founder & Head of
Financial Engineering

Kim came to the United States as a Div. I Track and Field Student-Athlete and has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics. She is currently the first student at Rice University to simultaneously pursue a M.A. in Economics and a PhD in Statistics. Growing up in South Africa during the 1990’s, Kim witnessed much inequality and poverty. While working for various NGO’s by rebuilding and developing communities around the world she was frequently made aware of the financial burdens, lack of adequate resources, and need for access to low-cost capital throughout the developing world. As part of the Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems and as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, she conducts interdisciplinary research allowing her to contribute to the larger economic issues that impact the availability of and the accessibility to basic needs.

Yamir Tainwala
Blockchain Engineer
Intern

Originally from Kolkata, India, Yamir is currently pursuing a major in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania. After failing to make his millions by simply hodl'ing cryptocurrency, Yamir decided that if he couldn’t beat ‘em, he would join ‘em; thus began his nosedive into the blockchain space. With his specific interest and experience in Machine Learning, Yamir is helping Topl to implement the Divine Information Markets and is a key part of the team's efforts to create the first ever market-based risk analysis platform.

Albert Balinski
Blockchain Engineer
Intern

Albert is a developer by passion. In blockchain he is fascinated about the ICO’s and how new currencies are affecting our lives. In his free time he loves writing functional Javascript code and going to the gym.

Alex Bruns
Blockchain Engineer
Intern

Alex Bruns is currently attending the University of Minnesota. He is pursuing a Computer Science and Product Design double major. He's been involved with blockchain technology since 2016 and is passionate about distributed exchange technology and its ability to allow cryptocurrencies to fully recognize their potential. Alex is currently a part-time blockchain engineering intern for Topl, but plans to come onboard full time in the coming months.

Paige Nicolaou
Community
Manager

Paige Is in her fourth year at Texas A&M, pursuing an Economics Major. Although new to the blockchain space, she’s excited to see how the technology will continue to change the way things have traditionally been done, especially how it will promote a positive social impact worldwide. When Paige isn’t working, she can most typically be found at a coffee shop, crying her way through calculus homework.

Kamanzi Ntashamaje
Head of Partnerships

Kamanzi is currently completing his master's degree in International Business with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and SME Management at Maastricht University. He was born and raised in Switzerland but has his roots in Rwanda. Over the course of many trips to visit his family in Rwanda, he realized how creative and dynamic the people were but also how challenging it was to obtain financing for even the best businesses. When he heard about Topl, he understood that blockchain technology can significantly disrupt the usual way of seeking and providing finance in developing countries. By joining the Topl team, he wants to contribute to this revolution.

Matt Kindy
Advisor, Security
and Consensus

Self-taught in C programming from a young age, Matt combined his coding interests with his love of mathematics to earn a degree in Computational & Applied Mathematics at Rice University. He has extensive experience with research and development of distributed systems and cryptographic protocols. Among his various projects, he developed and refined NIZK proofs for the JVM-based reference implementation of the STAR-Vote electronic voting system and designed a series of Solidity smart contracts used for a retail payments. Today, he is guiding Topl's implementation of the Ouroboros Praos proof-of-stake consensus protocol and is passionate about bringing secure development practices to Topl's growing team.

Katherine B. Ensor, Ph.D.

Kathy is Noah G. Harding Professor of Statistics and founding director of the Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems (CoFES) at Rice University. Established in 2002, CoFES supports education and research in quantitative finance at the graduate and undergraduate level. Kathy is an expert in statistics for dependent data, financial modeling, and financial risk. She is currently Vice President for the American Statistical Association and serves on the National Academies Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. Kathy has been recognized for her leadership, scholarship and mentoring and is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Max Lautenschlaeger

Max is a venture developer and blockchain enthusiast with years of experience in Consulting, Company Building, Venture Capital, FinTech, and Private Equity. He holds a BA in controlling along with an MBA from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst. Max is Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Sourcing Director of Iconiq Lab, an ICO accelerator program for blockchain and crypto startups.

John Dobelman, Ph.D.

John is a Professor in the Practice in Statistics at Rice University, researching quantitative finance opportunities for profit and risk management. Additionally, he is associate director of Rice's Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems (CoFES). He has extensive experience in trading and financial engineering. John worked previously as a pricing scientist at PROS Holdings and has a love for improved communication and societally useful technology applications. He likes the idea of helping to nudge the momentum of the P2P application space. John also also serves on the Board of Directors of Houston Achievement Place.