Pursuit is pleased to announce the appointment of Jumi Barnes of Goldman Sachs, Chief Product Officer Sarah Walker, and Chris Maddern of Floor to its Operating Board.
The mission of the Operating Board is to advance Pursuit’s reach in the tech community and enhance its institutional and partner network; help lead its fundraising strategy and initiatives; drive yearly giving; and support resource acquisition. As new members, Barnes, Walker, and Maddern will serve under the leadership of Zac Smith, Global Head of Edge Infrastructure at Equinix, who became the chair of the board in 2020.
“At Pursuit, we are solving one of the most complex issues of our time: providing long-term economic opportunity,” said Jukay Hsu, CEO & Co-Founder of Pursuit, “It requires creative solutions, dedication, and a deep bench of talent and expertise, which is why I’m so thrilled to have Jumi, Sarah, and Chris join Pursuit’s Operating Board. Each of them has a deep connection to and understanding of the tech world, and having seen our work up close, they recognize the importance and urgency of our mission, not only for our talented Fellows but also for the wider industry. I look forward to working with them and am excited about the ways they will further enable Pursuit to be the social impact organization of choice for the world’s best companies.”
“I grew up in an underserved community in London, with a passion for technology but very little access to the corporate world. A non-profit organization coached and equipped me to land my first internship, which opened a world of possibilities in my career. I’m honored to serve on the Operating Board of Pursuit, whose mission is to open similar doors for others.” -Jumi Barnes
“The mission of Pursuit aligns to my long time focus on how we level the playing field and provide access to everyone. I have had first-hand experience seeing the incredible work from Pursuit Fellows and believe that, with access to a quality program like Pursuit, we can change the fundamental structures of inequity in our society.” -Sarah Walker
“The tech industry offered me opportunities that would otherwise have been out of reach, and the barriers to those opportunities are much higher for many others. In bringing the innovation of a true social enterprise — do well by doing good — Pursuit’s bold and inspiring direction not only leads to the success of its Fellows, but it provides a model that can change the way philanthropy and impact investing works more broadly. I couldn't be more excited to join the Operating Board and help advance its mission.” -Chris Maddern
“It is an honor to work alongside such talented leaders and movers and shakers as Jumi, Sarah and Chris. Much of our work on the Operating Board is being ambassadors and doers for Pursuit – sharing the power of its impact, helping foster relationships and opportunities, and rolling up our sleeves in ways that ensure the organization thrives. I have no doubt their participation will enhance our efforts and help facilitate the kind of economic opportunity we all know is possible.” -Zach Smith
See right for full bios of Barnes, Walker, and Maddern.
Jumi Barnes is Global Head of Investment Banking Division Digital Platform Engineering, responsible for delivering the foundational components for IBD's digital strategy. Previously, she led several digital transformation initiatives within the Global Markets Division, overseeing the development of new applications and delivering operational efficiencies through workflow simplification, digitization and automation. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2007 as an analyst in the Technology Division, was named a technology fellow in 2018 and managing director in 2021.
Sarah Walker joined Ribbon as its Chief Product Officer after 20 years of experience as an engineer where she has focused on defining distributed technical architectures and building and scaling global high performing teams. Previously she served as VP of Engineering for HUMAN, the leading provider of cyber security technology for the detection and prevention of advanced bot and malware fraud, where she worked on bot mitigation and helped take down two major botnets in conjunction with the FBI. From there, and right before Ribbon, Sarah was the Head of Engineering at Thorn, a nonprofit that aims to eliminate child trafficking and online exploitation.
Chris Maddern is a British engineer-turned-entrepreneur, currently co-founder & CEO of Floor — whose mission is to make NFTs understandable & accessible. Floor was the first token-gated mobile app, pioneering NFT community-driven product development. Chris is also a co-founder of LinksDAO (tokenizing sports & leisure membership) and serves on the board of the leading crypto research outlet, The Block. Chris found his way into fintech leading mobile at social payments platform Venmo, before co-founding Button, the leading mobile commerce platform (used by Uber, Hotels.com, Walmart and more) where he served as Chief Product Officer. Prior to Button, Chris founded and built a half dozen companies at the intersection of culture, money and personalization with most having been successfully acquired.
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Media Contact:
A.J. Walton, Sr. Communications Director