Shahar Markovitch was appointed CDO – Chief Digital Officer of Bank Hapoalim as part of the new Innovation Division, headed by Mr. Avi Kochva (member of the board of management). The CDO office is a new position within the Bank that was formed as part of the vast reorganization, as published lately, in order to prepare the Bank toward the future challenges and the changing needs of the Bank's customers. Shahar Markovitch joins the bank after working 10 years as a partner in McKinsey & Co., professionalizing (internationally) in the fields of digitalization and innovation. Shahar is one of the formers of the McKinsey Digital Services Group, leading vast digital processes in numerous international financial organizations, high tech companies and public organizations. As part of his position in McKinsey & Co., Shahar was responsible for the establishment of innovation labs, internal "star ups" in large organizations and digital units that implemented innovative technologies and working methods by the leading technology companies in the world. Shahar has worked side by side together with the most innovative banks in the world, leading the initiatives, planning, implementation and launching of digital and financial tools, which has improved the customers experience dramatically and has saved time and funds to millions of customers. For instance, in England Shahar has launched an innovative tool, allowing the customer to receive loans via the smart-phone in a dramatically lower interest than any other product in the market. In Ireland Shahar has implemented a digital service in the country's biggest bank, that allowed the customer to apply for a mortgage, receive an approval and manage the whole process online. In South Africa Shahar has worked on an app that enables the customer to open a banking account from home without attending the branch at all, and in Australia he assisted to build capabilities that provided business customers to receive direct loans with an immediate approval. Prior to joining McKinsey & Co., Shahar worked in business development positions and management positions in Israeli start ups. Shahar has an MBA degree from MIT (USA) and Bachelor's degree (Cum Laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jared has over a decade of engineering experience spanning numerous industries including finance, biomedical engineering, defense, robotics, textiles, manufacturing, software development, IT, hardware products, emergency services, embedded systems, and signal processing. He’s worked with over a half-dozen startups and has close to a decade of management experience, with a variety of roles at early stage and startup companies, including C-level positions. Additionally, he has over 15 years of emergency services experience, and works closely with numerous Public Safety organizations. Jared received numerous awards including induction into Eta Kappa Nu (the Electrical Engineering honor society), induction into Mensa, and the Eagle Scout award. Jared has served as an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at Cooper Union and provides consulting services in the areas of data science, analytics, product management/development, blockchain, disruptive technology, strategy, project management, emergency services, and IT. Jared is currently a VP at BNY Mellon where he serves as the Deputy Global Head and North American Lead of the Emerging Business & Technology group, a firm wide group primarily focused on Distributed Ledger and other disruptive technologies.

Guy Naor is long time executive and innovator bringing advanced technologies to production use. From Cloud to DevOps, to distributed systems and Blockchain. After serving as the Chief Scientist for Cloud at CSC, Guy is now the CTO of Traiana and NEX Infinity, leading the efforts to optimize the Post Trade world, using DLT and Blockchain.

Gary Chu is the lead lawyer at UBS on Utility Settlement Coin, and works across the bank's divisions on a broad range of technology and innovation projects, including all of UBS's blockchain related activities. Before joining UBS, Gary practised law at Linklaters in London. He has over 12 years' legal experience in both the UK and Australia, with particular expertise in complex transactional and regulatory matters.

John Whelan is the Director of Innovation at Banco Santander responsible for its blockchain lab. In previous roles he has been a startup founder, spent time in the management consulting world and experienced the supply curve meeting the demand curve in the trading pits at The Chicago Board Options Exchange. John has an MBA in Finance and a degree in Chemical Engineering.