Leadership Changes Across the BAF Network

It may be hard to believe, but summer is quickly coming to a close and classes are beginning across the California and Mexico university ecosystems!

With a new school year comes fresh faces, new opportunities, and different leaders for many of our member blockchain organizations. The Blockchain Acceleration Foundation (BAF) put together this summary of managerial and structural changes our clubs underwent to update you in advance of a collaborative and productive school year.

If a leadership change at your student blockchain organization is not properly represented or is missing from this article, please reach out and we will amend the information ASAP.

CSUN Blockchain Society

• Club co-founder and former Vice President Manuel Vergara will assume outgoing President Santiago Cuevas’ position. Cuevas will remain as an executive advisor to the organization.

Blockchain at UCI

• No major changes to the leadership team are anticipated, with Ryan Eshaghi maintaining his role as club president.
• Check back in during the coming months for news about the exciting curriculum the organization is devising for a technical blockchain tutorial to be offered through UCI’s extension program.

Trojan Crypto Club

• Potter Lee and Adam Handen will serve as co-presidents for this semester, replacing outgoing president and BAF advisor Edward So.
• Kaushal Saraf will lead the group’s Dev Nights initiative.

Blockchain at UCSB

• Piergiacomo Palmisani will take over the presidency from recent graduate Ruben Dermoyan. Hunter Gordon will serve as the group’s Vice President and Chief Technological Officer.
• The group has a couple of big fall initiatives upcoming: the debut of a class titled Distributed Ledger and Consensus Protocols, for which Blockchain at UCSB developed curriculum. Also, the inaugural Santa Barbara Blockchain Summit will take place November 23.

Caltech Blockchain Club

• Pai Buabthong will replace outgoing president Austin Liu as the group’s leader.

Blockchain at Davis

• The group is working to form its leadership team. If interested, fill out this form and explore their website for information about the club’s research and educational programs.

Blockchain at UCLA

• With Veronica Reynolds and Adam Spar having graduated, Jason Huan and Andrew Battat will take over as co-presidents. Other board members include Vaishnavi (Vai) Kadambi, Yudai Nishiyama, Tasia Mochernak and Omar Hafez.
• Check back in as October nears for details about an event the group will be hosting during LA Blockchain Week.

Blockchain UNAM

• No major leadership changes are currently anticipated.
• On a separate note, check out the group’s dynamic new company called Covoir, a decentralized data bridge that brings real-world context to blockchain applications through crowd intelligence and machine learning.

Blockchain at UCSD

• No major leadership changes are expected, but Ken Miyachi is doing excellent work devising curriculum with The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to create non-technical blockchain education material, and separately to get a healthcare certificate in the blockchain space approved at UCSD. The healthcare program is an eight-course certificate covering the fundamental, nontechnical value propositions of blockchain.
• The healthcare certificate curriculum has been approved but cannot yet be shared: if your organization is interested in collaborating or learning more about this curriculum, please reach out to Ken Miyachi on our Slack.