Quantstamp: Team

Security Engineers

Dr. Ed Zulkoski

Head of Research

Ed holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. His research there was primarily in SAT/SMT solvers and formal verification technologies, with a focus on understanding what makes SAT formulas hard or easy for solvers. Before joining Quantstamp, he worked at Microsoft Research.

Dr. Leonardo Passos

Audit PM, Hiring Manager

Leonardo is one of the primary auditors for L1 blockchains. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo for his work on mining patterns from the Linux kernel source code and other systems. He is a Microsoft research competition medalist, with industry experience in backend development, compilers, and scalable data pipelines.

Alex Murashkin

Head of Infrastructure

Alex is a full-stack engineer and a certified Amazon Web Services professional, with extensive knowledge on AWS services, Web security, distributed and parallel computing, and decentralized systems. He holds a Master of Mathematics degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo (Canada), where he worked on techniques for design exploration and optimization in satisfiability-related problems.

Dr. Kacper Bąk

Founding Senior Engineer

Kacper is an expert in software modeling and verification. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo for his work on modeling and analysis of software product lines. Before coming to Quantstamp, he worked at MathWorks (maker of MATLAB), Opera, and Samsung.

Dr. Sebastian Banescu

Head of Insurance

Sebastian holds a Ph.D. in software security from the Technical University of Munich. His research spans across several areas of computer security such as reverse engineering, malware detection, software protection, and privacy. Before joining Quantstamp, Sebastian worked as security specialist at BMW.

Martinet Lee

Head of Developer Relations

Martinet is well versed in DeFi and NFTs, audited Yearn, and was selected as an ETHGlobal finalist for developing Godmode. In his pursuit to use tech to bring equality to humanity, Martinet founded PaperPlane, a nonprofit helping teachers prepare for computer science education in Taiwan and cofounded Papacode, a board game project that teaches kids programming, especially to those in poverty.

Dr. Poming Lee

Senior Research Engineer

Poming holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from NCTU, a top technical university in Taiwan where he has also taught as a lecturer. He has published over 20 papers on subjects including AI, Human-Computer Interaction, Intelligent Tutoring System, and more. He holds two patents and has built automated bots to help with everything from cryptocurrency trading to teaching linear algebra.

Fayçal Lalidji

Senior Research Engineer

Fayçal was first introduced to the blockchain industry working as a Junior Security Auditor for Callisto Network where he audited around 200 projects. He also worked on multiple decentralized projects as a freelance developer. Fayçal is a Ph.D. candidate at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Dr. Mohsen Ahmadvand

Lead ZK Researcher

Dr. Mohsen Ahmadvand is a cyber-security researcher and graduated with the highest distinction from the Technical University of Munich. Mohsen’s expertise lies in the areas of confidential computing, compiler-based protection, cryptography, insider attack mitigation, and cloud security. Mohsen worked in cyber security roles at SAP and Brainloop, and secured Chromium against malware in a research project with Google.

Marius Guggenmos

Senior Research Engineer

Marius previously worked on software protection and licensing at Thales, a company that builds electrical systems and provides services for aerospace, defense, transportation, and security markets. He helped develop protection schemes to shield applications from getting cracked and made reverse engineering more difficult. Marius has a Master’s in Informatics from the Technical University of Munich.

Rabib Islam

Research Engineer

Rabib previously worked for Health Canada as a Data Scientist and the National Research Council as a Research Software Engineer. He also has experience in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

Alejandro Padilla Gaeta

Research Engineer

Alejandro has extensive experience as a full-stack engineer and a technical program manager. He worked in companies like Microsoft, SAP, and Amazon on exciting products such as SharePoint, SAP Commerce Cloud, and Amazon Advertising. He decided to get involved in blockchain, as it’s the foundation for technological innovations shaping the money, finance, and web of the future.

Guillermo Escobero Hernández

Security Engineer

Guillermo has a longstanding orientation towards security, specifically cryptography and defensive programming. He is completing his masters in Cybersecurity at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Previously, he worked as an Embedded Software Engineer on projects related to cryptography, implementing secure network protocols, CVE frameworks, and providing security certifications.

Fatemeh Heidari

Research Engineer

Fatemeh is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal University where she researches blockchain access control and security. Previously, she led Oracle-based ERP software development teams and specialized in Financial and Logistics ERP subsystems. As a Solidity mentor for CoinIran and a member of the Women in Blockchain Farsi, she supports Farsi speaking women in web3.

Po-An Lin

Research Engineer

Po-An has extensive experience in both the web2 and web3 worlds. At OMG Foundation, he led the smart contract team that researched and developed Plasma, a layer 2 implementation. Po-An also was a Software Development Engineer at Amazon and was the payment platform team engineer for Mercari. Outside of work, Po-An enjoys snowboarding.

Daniel Aksenov

Senior Research Engineer

Previously, Daniel worked at Flashpoint as a cybercrime analyst where he established critical guidelines and tools for monitoring threats in the dark web. After encountering Bitcoin through his work as an analyst, Danny realized web3 was the future of digital transactions. Daniel was also the CTO at Hypelist, building out a mobile app during the day and acting as a club promoter at night.

Ibrahim Abouzied

Security Engineer

Ibrahim previously worked at GoDaddy as a backend engineer on the Website Design Services team to automate the workflow of website builders mostly using Kotlin and AWS. He participated at the ETHDenver 2022 hackathon with his friend and they won two bounties. Ibrahim is excited to live through the web3 revolution and watch the potential of this technology unfold in real time.

Zeeshan Meghji

Research Engineer

Zeeshan has led multiple software development teams across several industries. He developed various enterprise applications including fleet management software, inventory management systems, CRMs, medical applications, and content distribution systems. A lot of his work involved building large-scale distributed systems with a focus on back-end web development and cloud development.

Nikita Belenkov

Research Engineer

Nikita received a master’s degree in Electronic and Information Engineering at Imperial College London, writing his thesis in reorganization attacks and blockchain security. He co-founded the Imperial Blockchain Group, currently one of the largest student blockchain societies. Previously, Nikita worked at Bank of America as a cybersecurity analyst and Apple as a platform architecture engineer.

Jim Wood

Golang Engineer

Jim holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. Jim brings nearly a decade of software development experience to the team, with a heavy focus on Golang and managing data across an array of distributed services. Prior to joining Quantstamp, Jim was Principal Developer at Adentro, a company focused on tracking WiFi users and selling advertising based on that first party data.

Gabriel Rodriguez

DevOps Engineer

Gabriel is a certified Blockchain Solutions Architect. Previously he served as a team lead at SIMBA Chain and ran multiple US Department of Defense supply chain projects that leveraged private-permissioned blockchain technology. Additionally, he worked as a DevOps Engineer at Hedera Hashgraph and held roles across several industries. Gabriel currently volunteers for the US Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary and is co-founder and host of the Indianapolis Blockchain Developers Meetup.

Valérian Callens

Senior Research Engineer

Valérian holds a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from INSA Lyon. As an IT Auditor for Société Générale, he performed several missions across Eastern Europe. After co-founding a startup providing corporate carpooling in Romania, he discovered the values of blockchain. Very curious, he has since moved from DeFi user to builder and finally to Blockchain Security Auditor.

Adrian Kögl

Security Engineer

In his academic career, Adrian has immersed himself into various areas of IT security, particularly network security, system security, and reverse engineering. He is currently completing his Masters in CS at Columbia University and researching protection schemes against cross-chain attacks. As COO of Blockchain@Columbia and co-founder of the Blockchain Club at TUM, he has been heavily involved in the academic blockchain community and contributed to research in CS education.

Igor Braga

Rust Developer

Igor is a software engineer, he has worked in the garbage collector of the Java Virtual Machine at IBM and as a backend engineer at Noibu. Igor completed his masters in computer science at the University of Waterloo focusing on ML & AI, and his bachelors at NSU where he was also a D1 tennis player. He’s passionate about systems design, low level programming, and all kinds of sports.

Shih-Hung Wang

Auditing Engineer

Shih-Hung graduated with a master's degree in Information Security from Carnegie Mellon University. Before joining Quantstamp, he was an independent auditor and spent most of his time on audit competitions. He also worked at National Taiwan University and conducted research on blockchain and DeFi security.

Julio Cesar Aguilar Zerpa

Auditing Engineer

Julio holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the RWTH University and a degree as an Electronics Engineer from the University Simon Bolivar. He became interested in the blockchain space after discovering that it can often help remove unnecessary, costly middlemen through trustless applications. Before Quantstamp, Julio was developing perception software for autonomous driving.

Zhiyang Chen (Jeff)

Junior Research Engineer

Jeff(Zhiyang) is currently working on automated contract auditing, particularly flash loan vulnerability detection. He is a Ph.D. student on leave at University of Toronto where he researches program synthesis, smart contract security, and program analysis. Previously, he also studied at UMich and SJTU.

Business Development

Richard Ma

CEO and Founder

Richard attributes Quantstamp's success to how he prioritizes developing authentic relationships with his employees, our clients, and the industry at large. He is a former software engineer at Tower Research Capital where he developed software that handled millions of dollars using extreme testing methods. Richard founded Quantstamp to help the mainstream safely adopt blockchain technology.

Don Ho

Managing Director

Don is an investor and entrepreneur with global perspectives and cross-functional experiences supporting investments, product, and growth. Don previously worked at IDG Ventures and PNP Ventures where he helped launch Nexla, Ayasdi, and the Los Angeles Football Club.

Kei Oda

Head of Japan and APAC

Kei leads Quantstamp’s business in Japan and Asia-Pacific. Before Quantstamp, Kei spent 16 years working as a macro rates trader at Goldman Sachs in London and Tokyo. Kei loves thinking about macro trends and sees blockchain as the future of money. He received his Masters in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Naoko Araki

Business Development

Naoko coordinates with our clients to initiate and facilitate the execution of business agreements. Naoko was the Executive Assistant to the CEO at OMG Network where she coordinated internal communications and was in charge of special projects such as listing the OMG token on exchanges including Coinbase and translating blockchain presentations for Toyota and the Bank of Japan.

Katherine Bennett

Business Strategist

Katherine has a multidisciplinary background in environmental science and sociology and participated in research teams around the world dedicated to environmental conservation and social equity. After discovering the web3 space in 2021, she realized its potential to positively impact society. Katherine now brings the strong logistical skills she learned through these experiences to Quantstamp.

Tom Lindeman

Business Development

Tom has been an avid crypto enthusiast and investor since 2013, and has a long background in security and developer relations with 20 years of product and business development at Microsoft. As a co-founder of ConsenSys Diligence, Tom has been working on web3 security since 2017.

Annesia Jackson

Business Operations Specialist

Previously, Annesia worked as a freelance administrative assistant where she supported clients by keeping their website current and with social media engagement. She is a great team player who takes pride in her collaboration with coworkers and clients. Annesia joined Quantstamp after learning about the company culture and values, and is enjoying learning about web3.

Web Team

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Operations

Emily Hinojos

Executive Administrator

Emily makes sure the wheels keep on spinning at Quantstamp. A few of the things Emily works on include logistics, drafting documents, and conducting research. She also takes up odds-and-ends projects which are usually difficult to deliver and deliver great value to the company.

Isabelle Fichtl

Germany Operations Specialist

Isabelle has experience in diverse fields including technology and health. For the last 4 years, she was a sports scientist and manager at a therapy clinic serving competitive athletes. Before that, she developed automated systems at fit-ware GmbH. Isabelle received her M.SC. Health Science from the Technical University of Munich, Germany and is now responsible for operations at Quantstamp Germany.

Leah Wills Pocrnich

People Ops

Leah is a passionate HR leader who has been working in People and Operations for 8 years. She holds an MBA with a focus in Human Resources and Operational excellence and has built the HR function from the ground up at startup and scaling companies.

Irfan Mussa

Accounting Manager (Digital Assets)

Irfan Mussa brings over a decade of invaluable accounting experience and achievements in crypto accounting, having worked with multiple well known projects in the web3 community. Earning a Masters degree in Financial Accounting from Rutgers University, he possesses a deep understanding of financial reporting and systems security. His journey in the digital assets sphere is marked by a genuine affinity for DeFi and crypto. Beyond the world of accounting and finance, Irfan finds joy in exploring new destinations through travel, cherishing quality family time, and showcasing his skills on the basketball court. His multifaceted interests and dedication to excellence make him a valuable asset.

Communications and Marketing

Karina Crooks

Head of Communications

Karina has a background in marketing and communications, and got involved in the blockchain space in 2018. She is especially drawn to DeFi and passionate about producing content that showcases the amazing projects and technology driving a new financial system. At Quantstamp, Karina works on communications strategy, content development, and coordinating with external partners.

Jessica Graber

PR Strategist

With 5+ years of public relations experience across web3 and entertainment, Jessica has worked on buzz-worthy campaigns for budding web3 startups and tentpole films. Before Quantstamp, she led PR for the blue-chip NFT company Rarible. Prior to web3, Jessica worked on the national publicity team at Sony Pictures Entertainment. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

Jennifer Zheng

Marketing Analyst

Jennifer has experience in both the traditional finance and blockchain world. She holds a B.Comm with a specialization in Finance and Economics from the University of Toronto, and developed a curiosity for the application of blockchain technology through her presidency at the Rotman Commerce Fintech Association. At Quantstamp, she works on content development and marketing.

Katherine Giron

Event Specialist

Katherine has over 6 years of industry experience spanning several types of event productions including corporate conferences, a-list social events, multi-day conventions, festivals and more. Her favorite aspect of event planning is bringing a concept to life and creating an immersive, engaging environment for communities to connect. At Quantstamp, Katherine strategically organizes events to best showcase Quantstamp's brand and corporate image.

Sean Smith

Event Specialist

Sean has over 10 years of experience in the events industry working for one of the leading event management companies in the UK alongside running his own event management company specializing in music events. He gained a strong interest in the web3 space in 2017 and has been fascinated watching the industry grow from strength to strength ever since. He holds a BA (Honours) degree in Festival and Event Management.