President & CEO, TrustChains, LLC

Karen J. Wendel has over 30 years of C-suite experience in executive and board member positions. Her background is in financial services, including experience in domestic and international regulatory requirements, technology, cyber security, identity, and transaction processing. She has been active in the blockchain and crypto asset space for over five years, working directly with major global banking entities as well as innovators in the blockchain ecosystem. Karen is a highly knowledgeable leader and strategist, with a passion for detecting and leveraging growth opportunities. She has a proven record of restructuring and rebuilding organizations, including transforming the transaction banking business at a major global bank from a $500M declining play to a $2B growth engine in just under three years. Karen is currently President and CEO of TrustChains, a boutique consulting firm that works with PE and VC firms to identify and evaluate potential acquisitions. In addition, she provides consulting services to private companies in the financial services space, including a custodian focused on cryptoassets and an insurance fintech. She serves on the boards of two privately held entities and one public company. Karen’s previous experience includes CEO and board roles at IdenTrust (now owned by HID Global Corp), a global identity solutions company based in San Francisco, and eFinance (acquired by IdenTrust) an identity and credit solutions company. Karen was brought into both companies by their investors to drive transformation and strategy. In addition to these companies, Karen was a partner at Capco, a global business and technology consulting firm, and a partner at Gemini Consulting, a global management consulting firm, where she led the financial services practice. Karen is an author on financial management, payments, and supply chain integration; an advisor to U.S. Government agencies and the European Union on emerging technologies for payments and transaction processing, and a keynote speaker at major international banking conferences. Karen earned degrees in International Relations and Economics from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Karen resides in San Francisco, CA with her family, except when she is sheltering in place in the mountains of Utah.