A Modern
Trust Bank

Colette Taylor, Protego’s chairwoman, is a well-established public and private company director and audit committee financial expert. 

Taylor was CEO and chair of the Russell Investments Trust Co., which oversaw $40 billion in assets, working directly with the firm’s largest clients to deliver custom outsourced solutions. Prior to her CEO role, she was COO for Americas Institutional, a Russell Investments division where she created an operationally efficient and effective business model for the division. She currently serves on Russell’s Global Council and Risk Management committees. Prior to Russell Investments, Taylor worked as a manager of client services with Russell/Mellon Analytical Services, LLC. 

She received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration, Business and Marketing from Western Washington University and her MBA from the City University of Seattle.

Her board roles include PG&E, Trust of Southern California Edison, Science Strategic Acquisition Corp Alpha (NASDAQ: SSAAU); Partners in Care Trust Co., Guardianship Service of Seattle Trust Company; as well as volunteer board work at Goodwill of the Olympics & Rainier Region, Western Washington University Foundation; and the MultiCare Foundation of the MultiCare Health System.

Greg Gilman is the Founder and CEO of Protego Holdings Corporation, with more than 20 years of relevant experience as an executive, entrepreneur, investor, and attorney.

Gilman also is a co-founder and managing partner of Science Inc, a multi-faceted VC platform that scales and acquires digital businesses. Through early investments in blockchain-related projects, Gilman saw the potential in digital assets long before mainstream adoption. Drawing on his legal and financial services background, he architected the sale of one of the world’s first compliant digital securities to raise capital for the Science Blockchain fund.

Gilman also is co-founder and executive chair of RxVantage, a healthcare data and informatics company that connects healthcare providers with life science experts. He previously served as a Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Law at Pepperdine University School of Law.

He received his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Tufts University and his J.D. at the University of Southern California. He serves on the boards of Science Strategic Acquisition Corp., Wave Financial, and Mammoth Media. He previously served as a board member of HelloSociety, FameBit, and Playhaven.

Ron Totaro is the CEO of Protego Trust Bank, bringing more than three decades of financial services expertise including payments, blockchain, DeFi and other technology and services.  

Most recently, he served as CEO of Tassat Group, where he led the company to become the market-leading provider of blockchain-based, real-time payment solutions for banks to transition from legacy to blockchain technologies. In this role, he engaged more than 300 bank CEOs and industry analysts on the benefits and use cases of blockchain payments. The company is a 2021 Google Cloud Innovation Award winner. 

Previously he held executive roles at ACI Worldwide, FICO, AOL, American Express and GE Capital. At GE Capital, Ron served as operating partner and led strategy, M&A integration and growth plans for 30+ newly acquired portfolio companies. 

Ron received his MBA from the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business and graduated Magna cum Laude from the State University of New York at Albany.

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(Retired) Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett served in the U.S. Navy for more than 30 years, focused on cybersecurity, digital transformation, and information technology operations.

As an admiral, she served as director of Current Operations at U.S. Cyber Command, director of Navy Cybersecurity and the Navy’s Chief Information Officer. Her tours of duty included commanding officer at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Barrett serves as an independent director of ShoulderUp, a movement dedicated to educating and empowering women, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and KVH Industries.

She received her Bachelor’s in History from Boston University and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Syracuse University. She also completed a Master of Art from Webster University in Human Resource Development, and a Master of Art from U.S. Naval War College in National Security and Strategic Studies.

Her book “Rock the Boat: Lead Change, Encourage Innovation and Be a Successful Leader” was released on June 22, 2021, and is an Amazon Best Seller in Business Leadership Training, Business Mentoring and Coaching, and Management Skills.

Brian P. Brooks is a leader in financial services law and policy, and emerging technologies. In his role as acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), he was instrumental in approving the first digital asset banks.

Brooks is currently CEO of the Bitfury Group, one of the largest operators of crypto mining data centers and previously served as CEO of digital asset exchange Binance.us. Before joining the OCC, he served as chief legal officer of Coinbase Global, Inc.

Earlier in his career, Brooks was executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Fannie Mae, a $3.2trillion asset public company, and vice chairman of OneWest Bank, N.A. Before joining OneWest, he was a managing partner at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Brooks ranked 13th in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Notable People in Blockchain in 2021 and was awarded The Treasury Medal in 2021 to recognize his “accomplishments and leadership in the Treasury Department.”

He received his Bachelor’s in Government from Harvard University and his J.D. at the University of Chicago Law School. He served as a member of the board of directors of the FDIC and a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He launched Project REACH, a national partnership to promote financial inclusion.

Michael Carpenter is well respected across the banking and financial industry, having served as CEO of Ally Financial Inc. for six years through its IPO. Most recently, he is a member of the board of First Citizens Bancshares after it acquired CIT Group Inc., where he also was a director.

He previously held senior positions at Citigroup, including chairman and CEO of Citigroup Alternative Investments overseeing $60 billion, as well as chairman and CEO of Citigroup's Global Corporate & Investment Bank with responsibility for Salomon Smith Barney Inc.

Prior to Citi, Carpenter was chairman and CEO of Travelers Life & Annuity and vice chairman of Travelers Group Inc. He was chairman, president and CEO of Kidder Peabody Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric Co., and executive vice president of GE Capital Corp., among other roles. Earlier in his career, Carpenter was vice president and director of the Boston Consulting Group.

He received his Bachelor’s from the University of Nottingham, where he also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Law, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He serves on the boards of Autoweb Inc., U.S. Retirement Partners, Rewards Network, Client 4 Life Group and the New York City Investment Fund. Carpenter previously served as a board member of the New York Stock Exchange, General Signal, and Loews Cineplex.

Brian Golob is the CEO and founding partner of Golob Partners, which provides data collection, monitoring and objective measurement to improve business operations, ethical conduct and risk management in the financial services industry.

Prior to Golob Partners, he worked for Russell Investments, a global financial advisory firm where he served in multiple roles, including global general counsel and chief compliance officer, managing director of implementation services, and managing director of business services for Russell Investments (Japan). Golub also served as principal of conduct and regulatory risk management at Greenwich Associates.

He received his Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Washington and his J.D. at New York University of Law in International Business and Corporate Finance. He is currently on the advisory board at  the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business, where he is a frequent guest lecturer and student advisor.

Mark Kritzman is CEO and founder of Windham Capital Management, LLC, and a founding partner of State Street Associates.

He brings a unique quantitative analysis and research background to his board role, having authored eight books and numerous academic journal articles on finance and investing.

Kritzman has served on the boards of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance and the Investment Fund for Foundations, and on the editorial boards of the Emerging Markets Review, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Alternative Investments, and Journal of Investment Management.

He received his Bachelor’s in Economics from St. John’s University and an MBA in Economics at New York University and has received multiple financial research awards including the Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Awards, the Peter L. Bernstein Award, and the Roger F. Murray Prize.

Jamie Selway brings deep and diverse market structure and trading technology and execution experience, operating across multiple asset classes during his career.

Most recently, Selway served as global head of institutional markets at Blockchain, a leading software provider for digital assets. Prior to Blockchain, Selway was head of electronic brokerage and U.S. head of execution services at Investment Technology Group (ITG). Previously, Selway was the managing director at White Cap Trading, an institutional agency brokerage heco-founded, and served as chief economist at Archipelago. Prior roles included equity derivatives research at Goldman Sachs and research at FINRA.

Selway currently serves as vice chairman of the National Organization of Investment Professionals and is a member of the Investment Traders Association of Philadelphia. He has served as a director of the BATS Exchange and associate editor of the Journal of Trading.

He received his Bachelor’s in Mathematics and European History from Washington and Lee University and a Master of Science in Financial Mathematics at The University of Chicago. He has been a member of SIFMA’s Equity Markets and Trading Committee, IEX Quality of Markets Committee, Nasdaq Quality of Markets Committee, NYSE Euronext Market Structure Advisory Committee, and has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

David Straus, a board director at Seattle’s First Sound Bank, has spent more than two decades building and running banks in Washington state.

Previously he founded Fortune Bank, a Seattle-based community bank he sold to HomeStreet Bank, where he then served as senior executive vice president. Earlier in his career, he was president of Wells Fargo’s Business Banking for Washington and president of Pacific Northwest Bank.

David is a past chairman of the Washington Bankers Association, past president of the Washington chapter of RMA Associates, past board member of United Way of King County, and past chairman of Pioneer Human Services.  

He earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Management from the University of Denver and his MBA in Management at the University of Arizona.