Jed McCaleb is a software developer and entrepreneur. His focus is on accelerating progress, expanding potential, and increasing net happiness.  He is the founder of the Astera Institute, as well as the cofounder and Chief Architect of the Stellar Development Foundation, the organization that maintains the open-source Stellar Network. He previously created the eDonkey2000 file-sharing network, launched the early Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, and co-founded Ripple Labs. In 2021, he founded Vast, a company developing artificial-gravity space stations.

Seemay Chou is the Co-Founder and CEO of Arcadia Science. Arcadia is a science company that applies an evolutionary lens to accelerate purposeful discovery of nature’s greatest innovations. She is also the Chief of Strategy at Astera Institute and chairperson of The Navigation Fund. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, and she received a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from UC Berkeley.