About

Who I Am

I build standards and solutions that empower individuals in their digital lives, unlocking new opportunities and safeguarding privacy. My experience includes developing core libraries at Microsoft, building distributed systems, and pioneering decentralized identity solutions and standards.

Currently, I’m applying decentralized identity principles to non-person entities and autonomous agents, overcoming traditional identity system limitations and enabling secure, autonomous interactions between agents. This approach reduces insecure practices like credential sharing and excessive permissions, ultimately enhancing security for everyone.

I’m particularly drawn to solving complex problems at the intersection of distributed systems, open standards, and human-centered design.

Current Roles

  • Executive Director, Decentralized Identity Foundation — Leading a global community advancing decentralized identity technologies
  • Technology Committee Member, MOSIP — Guiding the roadmap for an open-source identity platform powering digital public infrastructure
  • Architecture Advisor, ASU Trusted Learner Network — Shaping the vision for lifelong learning and credentialing systems

Previous Projects

Blockchain-Based Credentials
I co-created Blockcerts with MIT Media Lab – developing the first open-source implementation of blockchain-anchored credentials that enables tamper-evident verification without relying on a central authority. I architected and built the open source libraries and standards. As CTO of Learning Machine, I built on the open standard to develop on of the first commercially successful self-sovereign identity products. Read more in What We Learned from Designing an Academic Certificates System on the Blockchain.

Educational Empowerment
As Lead Architect for MIT’s Digital Credentials Consortium, I designed infrastructure enabling learners to control and share their academic achievements across institutions. Key outputs included the Learner Credential Wallet Specification (with the US Department of Education) and Building the Digital Credential Infrastructure for the Future.

Digital Financial Infrastructure
At Centre Consortium, I led critical initiatives for USDC including:

  • Standardizing consumer protection and privacy-preserving identity frameworks for financial use cases
  • Leading Ethereum’s “Merge” preparation for the $50B USDC asset, coordinating security audits and release planning
  • Enhancing technical diligence standards for USDC blockchain integrations

Digital Identity Standards
I chaired the World Economic Forum’s Digital Identity Technical Working Group, leading a multi-stakeholder effort that produced the Reimagining Digital ID framework. This work set a new standard for how governments, corporations, and individuals approach digital identity in financial contexts, paving the way for more secure and privacy-respecting global infrastructure.

Research & Work

My recent work explores digital identity as it relates to challenges and opportunities introduced by AI. Recent publications in this area include:

Much of my work centers on decentralized identity standards and open-source development, applying these technologies across domains—including education and workforce systems—to enable individuals to control their data. Key contributions include:

I also wrote a UML book around 20 years ago, mostly out of frustration. Learning UML 2.0 (Book)

For a complete list of my publications and specifications, visit my writings page.

Previous Roles

Leadership

  • Chief Technology Officer, Learning Machine (now Hyland)
  • Director of Identity and Standards, Centre Consortium (USDC)
  • Lead Architect, Digital Credentials Consortium at MIT Open Learning
  • Chair, World Economic Forum Digital Identity Technical Working Group
  • Software Design Engineer, Microsoft .NET Base Class Libraries

Community & Editorial

  • Co-chair, W3C Credentials Community Group
  • Steering Committee Member, Decentralized Identity Foundation
  • Technical Lead, T3 Innovation Network Pilot Project
  • Guest Editor, IEEE Dawn of the Internet Identity Layer
  • Board Member, Rebooting Web of Trust
  • Associate Editor, IET Blockchain

Education & Beyond

I hold an M.S. in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Cornell University and a B.S. in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin.

Beyond work, I serve on the board of the Whidbey Animal Improvement Foundation, spoil my dog, and play cello when I can.