Against a global backdrop of rapid digitalization and growing demand for decentralized architectures, Affinidi continues to lead the way in driving innovative solutions utilizing digital identities and credentials. Today, we are helping to reconnect people and the economy through our safe travel initiative, enabling blue-collar workers to gain access to financial services, and bringing developers together to create solutions to foster digital trust globally. 

I believe I speak for the team at Affinidi when I say that the opportunity to make a positive impact to the lives of communities around the world is what inspires us. As we continue to work with our partners to support an ecosystem that leverages digital credentials, we are also investing in our people to ensure we bring the diversity in experience, thinking and ideas needed to take us forward.    

We are pleased to announce senior appointments who will join the executive team in spearheading Affinidi’s growth: 

Lila Tretikov has been appointed as an independent board member for Affinidi, where she brings her expertise in emerging technologies and building scalable businesses to Affinidi, and joins the leadership team in spearheading our business and growth strategy. She is also Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, where she works with creators, engineers, scientists, designers, ethicists to solve some of the world's most challenging problems and empower humanity through technology. A leading expert in artificial intelligence, Lila also served as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of AI, Perception and Mixed Reality. She was previously CEO of Terrawatt and the Wikimedia Foundation. Lila has a diverse background in business, technology, design and policy, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016 and among Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women in 2014. 

Howard Soh has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer for Affinidi and will lead our business and sustainable growth strategy. In this role, Howard will be responsible for business and corporate development, investment strategy and creating new businesses within Affinidi. Howard previously headed strategy and corporate development at Sea Limited where he oversaw strategy formulation, investments, communications, and investor relations. He also led fundraising efforts and spearheaded Sea’s landmark initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to this, he was part of the founding team at Rocket Internet SE in Southeast Asia, establishing ventures such as Zalora, Lazada and Foodpanda. Howard started his career in financial services and also worked at McKinsey & Company. He is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and was appointed as an e-commerce expert by the World Economic Forum’s Digital Trade Project.

Gina Chiang joins us as Vice President and General Manager of Affinidi’s Safe Travel initiatives. She will be leading the team to onboard airlines and immigration departments, as we work to manage COVID-19 related health credentials and entry requirements around the world. A seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience, Gina most recently worked at Facebook to build a gaming activation advertising business and drove Gaming vertical revenue growth and market expansion across Asia. A 12-year Google veteran, she held various roles within the company, leading various Google sales divisions worldwide and working across the digital advertising ecosystem. 

Mukul Sachan has been appointed Managing Director for India where he is responsible for driving deployment and innovation in fintech-related use-cases for verifiable credentials for LemmaTree's GoodWorker. He will be leading business, partnerships, and Affinidi's initiatives to contribute to the development of digital public infrastructure in India -- a key growth market for Affinidi, with the country’s growing use of decentralized solutions. Mukul has over two decades of experience in the finance and technology sectors. He was the Co-Founder and CEO of Lendingkart Finance, a fintech startup in the MSME digital lending space. There, he conceptualized and developed the core IP of the business and was responsible for the company's growth and profitability through operational excellence.

Varsha Jagdale joins Affinidi as General Manager of Financial Services. In this global role, Varsha will be responsible for driving programs aimed at providing equitable access to financial services through innovative use of digital identity and verifiable credentials. She will lead Affinidi’s goal of contributing to the creation of innovative new business models for the financial services industry. With over two decades of experience, Varsha is a seasoned business leader with experience spanning areas of payments, media and technology. She has held roles spanning finance and business development and most recently, was Senior Vice President and Head of Payments at Lazada.

We are excited about bringing together a global team from diverse backgrounds to work towards one common goal – creating a future that we can all be proud to live in. I think we achieve more in a self-driven culture that is built on trust, transparency, and collaboration, and while having fun as a team. To learn more about opportunities to join Affinidi in driving positive change, please visit https://www.affinidi.com/careers#Opportunities