We would like to share the news of a change happening at the Starknet Foundation. Diego Oliva, who has served as the first CEO of the Starknet Foundation (SNF) since March 2023, will be stepping down after successfully establishing a strong team and structure at the Foundation. James Strudwick, who has been with the Foundation since January 2024 will be assuming the role of Executive Director to continue growing the Starknet ecosystem and its adoption.
Diego was hand-picked as the Foundation’s first CEO, after an extensive search, on the strength of his experience and character. His experience as an entrepreneur who has founded, run, and scaled successful businesses made him the right choice for a burgeoning ecosystem. His character, vision, integrity, and commitment ensured the Foundation would be built on the right values. Under his tenure the SNF has grown from a team of two part-time employees to its current size of over thirty full-time highly-talented and committed professionals.
Under Diego’s leadership, the Foundation itself has executed on the Provisions project, and jump-started multiple ecosystem development projects such as DeFi Spring, Seed Grants and the Catalyst and Propulsion programs. The SNF has signed deals with over 100 infrastructure teams via Developer Partnerships and scaled key programs like Basecamp and Hacker Houses. All this was carried out in short order and in the manner characteristic of Diego – professionally, efficiently, and in a socially responsible manner. Diego’s experience has shaped the structure and ethos of the SNF, leading to its current successful state.
Now that a strong team and structure have been established, Diego and the Foundation board believe it is an opportune moment to hand over the baton. In this spirit, James Strudwick will be taking over leadership of the Foundation. In order to ensure that all of the Foundation’s activities continue without interruption, Diego will remain on for the next month to assist in the transition.
James has been with SNF since January, as Head of Ecosystem Growth, bringing years of web3 experience including work advancing DeFi, L1, and L2 scaling projects. Since joining SNF, James has proven to be an adept and creative leader, an energetic community builder, and a deeply knowledgeable and thoughtful ecosystem expert.
The SNF board thanks Diego for his many contributions, and enthusiastically welcomes James to his new role.
