NEAR Foundation appoints new COO and general counsel

Non-profit NEAR Foundation has hired Bill Earner as chief operating officer and Christopher Donovan as general counsel.

NEAR is a collective, a foundation and a development platform built on a new layer 1 blockchain designed to be fast, secure and scalable. 

There are 20+ million accounts on the NEAR network, more than 800 projects building and 200 million transactions to date, with the NEAR network being used for 300,000-400,000 transactions per day.

Earner was previously the venture partner at Entrepreneur First, an international talent investor which supports individuals in building technology companies. Before that, he was the general manager of Citymapper, a public transit app and mapping service. 

Earner also spent the best part of a decade as a founder and general partner of  Connect Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm specialising in internet and digital media sectors. As one of the early pioneers of London’s technology startup scene, he brings invaluable experience navigating the complexities of fast-growing ecosystems. 

Donovan was a partner and head of legal at Outlier Ventures, one of the first VC firms dedicated to investing in the emerging crypto ecosystem which has helped raise over $350 million in seed funding for its growing portfolio of 100+ high-profile projects from across the world.

Donovan has helped navigate the legal and regulatory complexities of Web3 by helping Outlier Ventures support the launch and growth of several billion-dollar crypto economies. Its portfolio includes notable projects across DeFi, NFTs and blockchain infrastructure with a focus on emergent Metaverse use cases such as NFT-based digital couture fashion brands, avatar marketplaces, and more. 

“We are thrilled to be welcoming Bill and Christopher to the team as we continue on our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to open technologies by growing and enabling a community of developers and creators,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation.

“Bill and Christopher both bring unique depths of experience in their respective fields and we could not be more excited to have them on board with us.”