Board Member

Aaron Cohen is the President of Arena Strategies, a government affairs firm based in Harrisburg, PA. He has spent decades developing expertise in the Pennsylvania political arena, building relationships and becoming an adept at navigating complex issues within government.

He is an innovative leader serving successfully in leadership positions for Coca-Cola, Franklin Quest, and the Project Management Institute.

Aaron Cohen received his BA in Political Science from the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. He received his MA in Government from the Fels School of Government- University of Pennsylvania. Service and community involvement have always been important to Aaron. Since 2012 he has served on the Salvation Army Advisory Board of Greater Philadelphia, and Chair from 2015-2018. He now serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, he serves on Clubhouse Services and Public Affairs Committees of the Union League of Philadelphia.

Aaron believes in being a person who pursues their passions. For him this includes collecting and enjoying wine (WSET Level 2 Award in Wines), travel, cooking and history. He and his wife Priscilla travel extensively, and always find time to enjoy the people they meet and learn about the culture where they are visiting.

Board Member

Steve Fera is Executive Vice President of public affairs at Independence Blue Cross. In this role, Mr. Fera leads federal and state government affairs, the Independence Political Action Committee, and community affairs areas. He also oversees the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, a more than $100 million charitable organization. Since joining Independence in 1990, Mr. Fera has held executive-level positions responsible for Medicare products, CHIP, and other products assisting the low-income and uninsured. Additionally, he has led the development of key community programs.

He is a member of the Public Affairs Council Board of Directors, Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) Board, and the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation Board. Mr. Fera is also a Fellow with America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and graduate of its Executive Leadership Program.

He has a bachelor of science and master of business administration degrees in finance, both from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Board Member

William (Will) Gonzalez is an executive officer for Quaint Oak Bank, a regional community bank serving the greater Philadelphia market.  In this role he is responsible for several of the Bank’s business lines, including the Bank’s regional banking offices, commercial and consumer lending businesses, property and casualty insurance business, real estate title insurance business, and real estate sales and leasing business.  Prior to joining Quaint Oak Bank in 2009, Will was the president and chief executive officer for a commercial and mortgage banking business. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from DeSales University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

His banking experience is what drew him to blockchain. He believes this technology is a way to boost security and trust in his field and is excited about the possibilities it holds for the banking world. He enters the coalition ready to bring his expertise into the conversation to have a more well-rounded approach to blockchain and its uses for everyday Pennsylvanians.

Will lives in Bethlehem Pennsylvania with his wife Rebecca and four children Gabriel, Madison, Matthew, and Jude

Board Member

Tyler Harttraft is a Partner at Bull Blockchain Law LLP, focusing his practice on corporate law, capital markets law, and financial regulations.

Tyler provides strategic advice on the regulation of blockchain technology and digital assets. As counsel to various blockchain and cryptocurrency clients, Tyler provides critical legal advice on cryptocurrency, exchanges, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), decentralized finance (DeFi), securities and commodities laws compliance, gaming platforms, governance token structures, and venture financing. Tyler also advises a wide range of clients interacting with or investing in blockchain technology, including start-ups and emerging companies, publicly traded companies, regulated financial services entities, fund managers, and money services businesses.

In addition to his role with the PABC, Tyler is also a member of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, a non-profit trade association created for financial market professionals and legal practitioners dedicated to remaining on the cutting edge of developments in blockchain technology and smart contracts.

Tyler holds a Juris Doctor from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, and a B.A. in Communication Arts and Sciences and a Minor in Business from the Pennsylvania State University. He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Advisory Board Member

Pramod Attarde has more than 25 years of business experience as a visionary entrepreneur, blockchain evangelist, speaker, fintech cloud architect, solution architect, enterprise architect, and blockchain technology architect. He is also a speaker at various Blockchain and Digital Securities conferences.

Advisory Board Member

Peter Chmiel has a passion for applying technology to solve problems and building products that people love. In 2021 he founded Go! NFT Yourself to enable artists, brands, and personalities to sell NFTs to their entire fanbase, not just the crypto savvy. Our platform lets you launch a custom-branded NFT storefront with easy one click social signup to get a wallet and the ability to buy NFTs with a credit card in USD/Fiat. No need to download and set up a wallet or buy and transfer crypto.

Prior to founding Go! NFT Yourself, Peter had launched and grew two other seven figure startups, a managerial and IT consulting business and a high-frequency algorithmic day trading firm. He has also designed, built, and marketed products for Fortune 500 companies like Verizon and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).

Peter holds a BS from New York University with a double major in Management and Information Systems. He lives in Sayreville, NJ with his wife and 2 kids and enjoys hiking, the beach, and baseball games.

Advisory Board Member

Brett Goldman has more than a decade of public/private experience working in economic development,  international trade, public affairs, politics and government relations, operations and business strategy.

Brett is a partner at OCan Group, and since 2015 has worked to create global access to Cannabinoids. Brett used his federal/state lobbying experience drove some of the most important contributions to the legislative and regulatory developments for the hemp industry. Brett and his team’s strategic initiatives with leadership at USDA and other federal policymakers resulted in significant regulations and normalization of hemp as an agricultural commodity and the ultimate convergence of cannabis and the mainstream.

In 2021, Brett joined VX Technologies-- a verified health record (VHR)™ company secured by Blockchain.  As Executive Director for Government and Strategic Affairs, Brett works with government and corporate stakeholders to present Blockchain technology’s leapfrog opportunity to prove the most accurate data to make critical care and policy decisions while separating the personal identity from the verified health record (VHR).

Brett began his career working in politics and public affairs in Philadelphia and New Jersey. He earned his BA in History and MA in Education from Fairleigh Dickinson University and his MA in Government and Strategy from IDC Herzliya in Israel.

Advisory Board Member

Chris Hayes leads global government relations at the Celo Foundation, which is a grant giving organization that seeks to encourage the use of the Celo blockchain. The Celo blockchain is a decentralized, open-source, mobile-first, carbon negative, layer-1 blockchain permitting developers to build application for real world use cases. The Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack (the Celo Protocol), the CELO token, and stablecoins (cUSD, cEUR, cREAL). Chris also currently serves as an Advisor to Aumni, a growing company building tailored data analytics solutions for LPs and GPs in the private fund industry.

Prior to joining Celo, Chris built and led a global advocacy program at the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), which represented over 570 institutional investor organizations (known as limited partners) invested in private funds, including public and private pensions, university endowments, charitable foundations, family offices and sovereign wealth funds. In this role, Chris led an advocacy effort that resulted in significant SEC and EU policy changes that enhanced alignment of interest, transparency and governance for private funds and AIFs in the U.S. and Europe. Chris also led an effort to create the first model limited partnership agreement (LPA) for the private equity industry.

Chris served as General Counsel and co-led the government affairs team for the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), a trade association representing U.S. middle market private equity funds and investors, and the business development company (BDC) industry. At SBIA, Chris was responsible for encouraging the passage of legislation that both amended the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 as well as created a Small Business Advocate office at the Securities & Exchange Commission. Previously, Chris worked as a regulatory counsel at the Financial Services Institute, representing broker-dealers and retail investment advisers, and at FINRA leading insider trading investigations and market surveillance for U.S. stock exchanges. Chris also served as a legal fellow on the Senate Banking Committee during the writing of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation in the summer of 2009.

Chris holds a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law, and a B.A. in political science and legal studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a member of the Law Alumni Board of the University of San Diego and is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.

Advisory Board Chair

Seth Hertlein is VP and Global Head of Policy at Ledger, the market leader in state-of-the-art security solutions for crypto assets. Seth leads the growing policy team at Ledger focused on engaging collaboratively with governments and policymakers across Ledger's more than 170 markets around the world.

Prior to joining Ledger, Seth was the Head of Policy & Government Relations at the Stellar Development Foundation, where he oversaw all aspects of SDF's engagement on digital asset policy, legislation, and regulation globally. In less than two year’s time, Seth built the policy and government relations function at SDF from scratch into one of the most prominent and engaged of any blockchain project or company. Under Seth’s leadership, SDF grew from being completely unknown in Washington, DC to testifying before the House Financial Services Committee alongside the biggest names in the blockchain industry. For much of 2020, Seth was the only registered lobbyist in-house at a blockchain project or company in the US. Additionally, Seth holds leadership positions in a number of US- and globally-focused membership organizations. For example, Seth co-chairs the Blockchain Association’s Stablecoin and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Working Groups, served on the Leadership Committee of the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Token Alliance, and was an issue lead / co-author with the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium.

Prior to launching the policy practice at SDF, Seth was part of the founding team that opened the Washington, DC office of FS Investments, a leading alternative investment manager. At FS, he participated in passing the first modernization of the laws governing business development companies. Prior to FS Investments, Seth was a securities regulator focused on adapting regulatory policy toward the burgeoning fintech industry. Seth earned a law degree from The Ohio State University and a MBA in finance from Wright State University.

Advisory Board Member

Neferteri Strickland is a Cybertechnology Strategist and adjunct professor who serves her community through emerging technology initiatives in K-20 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. As a contractor for the Department of the Navy, Neferteri supports initiatives for the fleet’s hull, mechanical, and electrical systems.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Savannah State University, Master of Professional Studies in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity from The Pennsylvania State University, and has earned industry certifications as a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and a Higher Education Teaching certificate from the Harvard University Derek Bok Center.

As a Communications Officer in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Neferteri directs the integration of fire support assets to support combined arms operations. Her years of volunteer work are centered around career pathway readiness for youth. Her board service and appointments include The Library Company of Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Blockchain Association, and the Global Philadelphia United Nations Sustainable Goals Advisory Committee.

At the start of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic Neferteri founded Teachers &, a Benefit LLC, to support education stakeholders navigate the future of education. She, her loving husband, and two amazing children, reside in the Greater Philadelphia Region where she serves as an adjunct professor in blockchain technology and information systems at Saint Joseph’s University.

Advisory Board Member

Marc Yaklofsky has over 20 years of experience building and leading communications, public relations and investor relations functions at a broad array of global financial institutions. He has a long track record of creating effective corporate narratives, brand building, and enhancing investor engagement.

Marc is currently head of Communications and Public Relations at Genesis Global Trading, a leading institutional crypto prime brokerage that offers trading, lending, borrowing, and custody services on a wide range of digital assets. In this capacity, he is responsible for leading internal and external communications, social media, and public policy initiatives for the firm.

Prior to joining Genesis, he was President and co-Founder of Shorr Resources, LLC, which provides strategic communications and investor relations advisory services for fintech and financial services clients. In this role, he advised on private market capital raising, helped guide the corporate transition from privately-held to publicly-traded and developed go-to-market communications and marketing programs.

Before leading Shorr Resources, Marc held senior positions at BNY Mellon, FS Investments, Nomura Securities and Merrill Lynch. Earlier in his career, Marc was a bank analyst at The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Marc sits on the Advisory Board of SHOT: We The People, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing how we communicate about gun violence in America through first-hand images and experiences. Marc holds an MBA from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and a BSBA from Bucknell University.

Advisory Board Member

Arry Yu is the Chair of the Cascadia Blockchain Council, a group supported by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), the largest US tech association representing technology companies from Oregon to British Columbia. She was one of the early pioneers that completed a $32mm tokensale in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) back in 2017. She co-founded the Cascadia Blockchain Council in 2018 and and the Coalition of Multi-State Blockchain Associations in 2021.

She’s a Venture Partner with Startup Haven Fund, as well as syndicating her own deals several times a year. She regularly teaches Blockchain and Crypto Fundamentals through a variety of platforms. Arry has been an avid educator, advocate, investor, and innovator in the space since 2016.

PA Blockchain Coalition
President
dfolino@pablockchain.org

Dominic Folino is the President of Spectrum Strategies, a public affairs firm specializing in Government Affairs and Business Development. Spectrum also offers issue education in various fields including blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Prior to starting Spectrum, Dominic worked in-house at a financial services firm in Philadelphia for nearly a decade. He began his career in politics working for various campaigns in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Dominic also served as chief of staff to a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Cryptocurrency and Blockchain are a passion of Dominic’s, and he is involved in various groups, including representing Pennsylvania on the State Blockchain Association. He has spoken and moderated numerous panels on the subject.

Service to the community has always been important to Dominic. He currently serves as the Advisory Board Co-Chair for Volunteer Medical Services Corp of Lower Merion and Narberth and is the Director of Advocacy for Simon’s Heart.

Dominic is a graduate of La Salle University. He also completed the Accelerated Management Program at the Yale School of Management and is currently pursuing an MBA at Villanova University.

PA Blockchain Coalition
Secretary

John is CEO and Founder of Cox Capital Partners which specializes in illiquid funds and niche investment strategies.

Before founding Cox Capital, John was Head of Strategy at Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX) and Director of Data Management & Reporting at FS Investments.

At both AIX and FS Investments John led numerous blockchain projects which included the tokenization and trading of both digital and traditional assets on private and public blockchains.

John is also an early investor in crypto currency.

PA Blockchain Coalition
Treasurer

Lara Coviello is Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager at Brinker Capital. In this role, she is responsible for the portfolio management, strategy planning, and communication of multi-asset class portfolios for high-net-worth clients and institutions.

Prior to joining Brinker Capital, Lara worked at FS Investments as Executive Director, Senior Portfolio Specialist where she served as a subject matter expert to educate advisors and investors on all investment offerings, and was the lead specialist on a multisector bond fund, including investments in corporate credit, emerging markets, structured products, and distressed credit. Before joining FS Investments, she was Managing Partner at Auctus Wealth Management Inc.

Lara is a member of the CFA Institute, CFAP Inve$t in Her Future, Women in Investing Network of Philadelphia, and the American Statistical Association.

Lara earned her undergraduate degree from Penn State University and her Master of Arts in statistics from Columbia University. She also completed the Private Equity and Venture Capital Executive Education course at Harvard Business School. Lara is a CFA® charter holder. She also holds FINRA Series 7, 63, and 65 licenses.