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Jan 13, 2025, 08:00 ET
NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Sheila Warren, an internationally recognized leader in advancing emerging technologies, has been appointed Chief Strategy and Operations Officer of Project Liberty and Chief Executive Officer of the Project Liberty Institute. Tomicah Tillemann, the President of Project Liberty, announced the appointment on Monday.
In the newly created position, Warren, who is based in the Bay Area, will be a core member of the Project Liberty leadership team. Founded five years ago, Project Liberty builds solutions that help people regain control of their digital lives. The far-reaching effort encompasses the development of Frequency, a revolutionary internet infrastructure layer pioneered by the Frequency Network Foundation and Project Liberty, and the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and other leading academic and civic organizations.
“Sheila Warren has been a longtime friend of both Project Liberty and the principles we are advancing. She is a powerful addition to our leadership team,” said Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty. “Her experience and professional contributions to the decentralization and democratization of technology make her uniquely qualified to help lead the crucial work happening at Project Liberty and Project Liberty Institute. I look forward to seeing her impact as we continue to build a better web for a better world.”
Warren’s portfolio will include overseeing strategic partnerships, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and driving forward Project Liberty’s mission to build a more equitable and inclusive digital future. She will play an active role in shaping key initiatives, including The People’s Bid to acquire TikTok, where her expertise in blockchain technology, digital governance, and ethical tech innovation will be instrumental. Additionally, Warren will engage with other groundbreaking efforts under Project Liberty, leveraging her deep experience in strategy, policy, technology, and systems change to expand the organization’s impact globally.
“Sheila Warren is one of the world’s foremost catalysts for innovation done right,” said Tomicah Tillemann. “Sheila’s unparalleled expertise in blockchain, digital assets, data policy, and digital governance, combined with her global leadership in financial inclusion and civic technology, make her an extraordinary asset to our mission. Sheila will be instrumental in our work to give people more voice in the way platforms operate, more choice in how their data is used, and more stake in the economic value they create online.”
Warren most recently served as the inaugural CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) – the premier global alliance for advancing the promise of this new technology through research, education, and advocacy. At CCI, she led a group of the most influential crypto industry leaders in the world representing, among others, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Block, a16z, Circle, Ribbit Capital, and Paradigm. Previously, Warren founded the World Economic Forum’s blockchain and digital assets team, oversaw its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and was a member of the Forum’s Executive Leadership Team. She oversaw tech policy strategy across 16 countries and regularly briefed Heads of State, ministers, Fortune 100 CEOs, and civil society leaders on crypto, AI, XR, and the metaverse, among other topics.
“I am honored to join Project Liberty and lead the Project Liberty Institute,” said Warren. “The work being done here is transformative and pivotal in shaping the future of technology and its impact on society and culture. We are at a critical time to usher in a new technological era, and the decisions we make today will have a profound, irreversible impact on future generations. I am excited to collaborate with this world-class, forward-thinking team to advance our shared vision and create lasting change to better our global digital future.”
Warren began her career as a Wall Street attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP before turning to philanthropy and civic technology. She was on the leadership team at TechSoup and built NGOsource, an online service that helps US foundations reduce costs on cross-border grants. Warren graduated with honors from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
About Project Liberty
Project Liberty is leading the movement to give people back control of their lives in the digital age by ensuring they have a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. Started in 2019 and publicly launched in 2021 by civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt and supported by a $500-million commitment, Project Liberty includes the work of the Project Liberty Institute—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and a technological team that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Project Liberty’s activities include the release of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is stewarded by the Institute and freely available as a piece of digital public infrastructure. DSNP serves as the bedrock of a more equitable web enabling a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.
SOURCE Project Liberty