NEAR Foundation hires fintech veteran Marieke Flament as CEO
Swiss blockchain foundation NEAR has appointed former Circle and Mettle exec Marieke Flament as its new CEO, effective 1 January 2022.
NEAR’s blockchain is carbon neutral
NEAR says it wants to leverage Flament’s executive-level expertise to drive the growth of the company as the crypto and blockchain space continues to heat up.
NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin says Flament will help the group “accelerate our next phase of adoption and help us realise our vision”.
“Her skills and experience are the perfect blend to help NEAR reach its next phase,” Polosukhin adds.
Trained as a computer engineer, Flament has worked for Louis Vuitton, Boston Consulting Group, Expedia’s Hotels.com, crypto giant Circle and, most recently, Mettle by NatWest.
At Circle, Flament became the company’s first global CMO, leading the rollout of the USDC stablecoin.
At NatWest, Flament was CEO of SME banking app Mettle, launching the app and growing the team from 50 to 250 employees.
Speaking on the appointment, Flament says NEAR has the capability “to help us unlock many of the long-promised uses” of blockchain technology and “to create products and services that promote greater inclusivity and reflect the needs of the people they’re designed to serve”.
