XY – The Persistent Company Announces Major New Additions to Advisory Board from National Geographic, World Economic Forum

Current Advisory Board Member Paul Hynek Takes on New Responsibility as Chairman of All-Star Board

(BUSINESS WIRE/AETOSWire)-- XYO Network, the technology bringing blockchain to the real world, continues to augment its Board of Advisors and cement its leadership position by today announcing that parent company XY – The Persistent Company has made new additions to the already-impressive Advisory Board with new and widely-regarded industry experts. Marcus Delano East, Chief Technology Officer, National Geographic; Kai Keller, Project Lead/Global Leadership Fellow, World Economic Forum; and industry expert Ken Au will support XY and XYO Network’s aggressive efforts to bridge blockchain and blockchain-based dApps to the physical world as the company builds out its applications, partners, and customer base around the globe and across industries.

2018 was an unprecedented year of successes for the XYO Network team, including growth from 17 to 76 employees; multiple corporate acquisitions; the opening of innovation-focused XY Labs in nearby Carlsbad, CA; listings on multiple new exchanges; and powerful partnerships with industry-leading organizations Esri, the FedEx Research Institute, and Spaceflight Industries.

Now, XY – The Persistent Company and the XYO team announce the newest Advisory Board members to join the team. They are industry leaders, each of whom brings a unique background, skill set, network, and set of strategic insights to the Board:

Marcus Delano East

East is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of National Geographic. As a technology executive with a passion for driving change through the use of technology, he has built a global reputation for being a “creative technologist” who enjoys solving difficult problems in innovative ways, whether complex business challenges or life-changing social issues. East spent much of his career working for leading technology companies including Apple and International Business Machines (IBM) building world-class technology, and the other portion of his career helping brands including Comic Relief, Marks and Spencer, and now National Geographic, to harness the power of technology to drive business value. East is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) Chartered Institute for Information Technology, and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (MCMI).

Kai Keller

Keller is currently Project Lead and a Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum. Keller leads the World Economic Forum’s work at the intersection of innovation and financial stability. He works with private and public stakeholders exploring changes in the global financial ecosystem as a result of technology-enabled innovation, while considering the wide range of opportunities and challenges in topics as diverse as the appropriate use of customer data, to the future of cryptocurrency. Before joining the World Economic Forum, Keller led equities activities at Credit Suisse, Macquarie Capital and Daiwa Securities.

Ken Au

Au currently serves as advisor to multiple global business, luxury brand, and technology companies including Metaverse, China’s first public blockchain company. At Metaverse, Au spearheads development of use cases from the ideology stage to product launch, as well as corporate development and partnerships. Au has forged strong relationships in traditional technology and blockchain spaces, and has a thorough understanding of the power and synergy from integrating the two. Additionally, Au is co-founder of the Luxchain Foundation, which provides enterprise-level supply chain verification solutions for the luxury goods market. In addition to his strategic work with XYO Network, he provides high-level advisory services to PLAIR.

As an additional development, current Advisory Board member and Smart City expert Paul Hynek will serve the Board in an expanded capacity as Chairman. Hynek holds an MBA from The Wharton School, and is currently a professor of finance at Pepperdine. Hynek also leads the Technology Committee for the $100 million effort to revitalize Pershing Square, the oldest public space in Los Angeles, and is also a member of the global-oriented Smart Cities Council. Hynek will contribute decades of business and technology insight, expertise, and leadership to the overall direction of the Advisory Board as XYO Network continues executing against its aggressive strategy around the globe and in orbit.

“These newest additions to our Advisory Board, and Paul Hynek’s stepping forward as Chairman are just the beginning of the powerful changes and growth you can expect from XYO Network in 2019,” said Scott Scheper, Co-Founder and CMO of XYO Network. “The roadmap and the team we’re putting in place to realize our goals are so aggressive and impactful in bridging blockchain, real, and virtual worlds that they’re second to none in the world. These new Advisors, and the things you’ll see from us this year, will literally blow the industry away, and we’re just getting started. A hearty welcome to these newest Advisory Board members.”