Jimmy Vaiopoulos, CPA, CA
Chairman
Mr. Vaiopoulos is a Partner, CFO and Co-Founder of Stack Capital Group Inc., a TSX listed issuer that invests in some of the most sought after innovative private late-stage tech companies. Previously, he was the CFO and Interim CEO of Hut 8 Mining, one of the earliest and largest publicly-listed bitcoin miners in the world. He also worked as the CFO of UGE International Ltd., a solar developer based in New York City. He began his career at KPMG in both Audit and Deal Advisory. Mr. Vaiopoulos will focus on identifying and evaluating acquisition and growth opportunities.
Steve Gutterman
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Gutterman has built, led, acquired and invested in market-changing companies for almost 30 years. Since July 2021 he has served as CEO of Falcon International, a large private cannabis company in California. Previously, he served from January 2020 to July 2021 as CEO of General Cannabis Corp, also known as TREES Corporation (OTC: CANN), a cannabis retailer and cultivator company, and from May 2018 to November 2020 as President of Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. (CSE: HARV), since acquired by Trulieve (CSE: TRUL) to form the largest cannabis company in the US as measured by revenue. Prior to Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., he held a variety of senior roles including at E*TRADE Financial (Nasdaq: ETFC) from February 2000 to July 2005, where he was EVP and COO of E*TRADE Bank. During his tenure, the bank’s assets increased from $1 billion to $35 billion. He also served as the CEO of GeoPoll from November 2012 to July 2018, a market research company and was Managing Director of MBH Enterprises, a private equity company focused on technology and infrastructure, from August 2005 to November 2012.
Brittany Kaiser
Director
Brittany Kaiser has served as our Chairperson of the board since the closing of the Business Combination and as the chairperson of Legacy Gryphon’s board of directors since February 4, 2021 and as a director of Legacy Gryphon since December 21, 2020. Ms. Kaiser is also an independent director of Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc. (Nasdaq: LSDI), a psychotropics contract manufacturing company, since December 2020, Chief Executive Officer and director of Achayot Partners LLC, a digital asset consulting firm, since April 2019, President and director of Own Your Data Foundation, a non-profit foundation implementing digital intelligence education programs since August 2019 and co-founder of Digital Asset Trade Association, an advocacy group for distributed ledger technology since February 2018. Prior to that, Ms. Kaiser served as business development director at SCL USA, a provider of consumer research, targeted advertising and other data-related services from March 2017 to January 2018 and SCL Group Ltd. (UK) from February 2015 to March 2017. Ms. Kaiser graduated from Middlesex University School of Law in 2015.
Jessica Billingsley
Director
Jessica Billingsley has served as a director on our board of directors since the closing of the Business Combination. Ms. Billingsley served as Chief Executive Officer and director of Akerna since the consummation of its business combination on June 17, 2019, and Chairman of the Board since July 2019. Ms. Billingsley co-founded MJF, Akerna’s wholly-owned subsidiary, in 2010 and served as President of MJF from 2010 to April 2018 and Chief Executive Officer since May 2018. An early investor in one of Colorado’s first legal medical cannabis businesses, Ms. Billingsley created the category of cannabis seed-to-sale technology after seeing the need first-hand. Prior to MJF, Ms. Billingsley was the founder and chief executive officer of Zoco, LLC, a technology services firm with clients across the United States. Ms. Billingsley has 20 years of technology and systems experience with rapidly scaling businesses, and founded her first business at the age of 22. Ms. Billingsley served on the board of the National Cannabis Industry Association from 2012 – 2019 and currently serves as Chair of the Board of the United States Cannabis Council. Ms. Billingsley was named one of Fortune’s 10 most promising women entrepreneurs in 2015 and named one of Inc. Magazine’s 100 Female Founders in 2018. Ms. Billingsley holds a dual degree from the University of Georgia in Computer Science and Communications.
Robby Chang
Director
Robby Chang has served as Gryphon’s Chief Executive Officer and a director since the closing of the Business Combination and as Legacy Gryphon’s Chief Executive Officer and a director since January 14, 2021. Mr. Chang has also been a director of Fission Uranium Corp. (TSX: FCU), a mineral exploration company, since April 2018, a director of Ur-Energy, Inc. (NYSE American: URG), an exploration stage mining company, since March 2018, and a director of Shine Minerals Corp., a company engages in the acquisition, exploration, and evaluation of mineral properties, since November 2018. Mr. Chang is also the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Chang Advisory Inc., a consulting service company, since December 2020. Prior to that, from August 2019 to January 2021, Mr. Chang was an independent consultant for traditional mining and crypto currency companies. From July 2018 to March 2020, Mr. Chang was a member of the board of advisors of District Metals Corp. (TSX.V: DMX), a mineral exploration stage company. From February 2018 to August 2019, Mr. Chang served as CFO of Riot Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIOT), a provider of Bitcoin mining and data center hosting, and oversaw the company’s business operations, investor relations and finances. From January 2011 to January 2018, Mr. Chang was the managing director and Head of Metals and Mining Research of Cantor Fitzgerald. Mr. Chang graduated from the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto with his MBA in 2006.
Heather Cox
Director
Heather Cox has been at the forefront of building and leading disruptive fintech, healthtech, data and digital businesses throughout her career, from the early days of E*TRADE to more recently in the healthcare space serving as the Chief Digital Health and Analytics Officer for Humana (NYSE: HUM) from August 2018 to February 2023. At Humana, she was accountable for building the firm’s digital care delivery operations and leading enterprise advanced analytics, including the application of Artificial Intelligence at scale in healthcare. Prior to Humana, Heather served as Chief Technology and Digital Officer at United Services Automobile Association (“USAA”), a financial services company providing insurance and banking products from September 2016 to March 2018, where she built personalized and digitally enabled end-to-end experiences for USAA members. Heather served as CEO of Citi FinTech at Citigroup, a fintech start-up that she designed that allowed Citigroup to harness innovation in the global fintech ecosystem. Prior, she headed Card Operations for Capital One, where she reshaped customer and digital experience for Capital One cardholders. Heather has been named to several American Banker Women to Watch Lists, including a designation of the #3 Woman to Watch nationally in banking in 2017. In 2015, she was named Digital Banker of the Year by American Banker and one of the 10 most innovative CEOs in banking by Bank Innovation. Since March 2018, Heather has served on the board of directors of NRG Energy (Nasdaq: NRG), and since August 2022, has served on the board of directors of Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq: AUB). Heather graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.
Daniel Tolhurst
Director
Mr. Tolhurst has founded, led, and invested in innovative companies across multiple sectors for nearly two decades. He was the Co-Founder, President and a Board Member of Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc., from its founding in October of 2020 through the closing of its go public transaction in February 2024. From June 2018 to January 2020, he led Netflix Inc.'s Content Strategy & Analysis team in EMEA. He also held positions as a Director and Senior Manager of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at The Walt Disney Company between 2013 and 2018. Prior to that, he held positions at Booz & Company, a management consulting firm, and the Bank of Montreal Financial Group, a Canadian bank. Mr. Tolhurst holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Arts, Honors Business Administration from Ivey Business School and a Juris Doctor degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. The Board selected Mr. Tolhurst based on his familiarity with the Company’s industry and business, as well as his extensive experience in strategic planning, capital raising, and investment management.
Dan Grigorin
Director
Dan Grigorin is an industry veteran with extensive experience across investment banking, private equity, private credit, and digital assets. Mr. Grigorin is a portfolio manager at Anchor Labs, Inc. (“Anchor”), where he has worked since October 2022. Prior to Anchor, he was a credit director at New York Digital Investment Group LLC from February 2022 to September 2022, senior associate at WhiteHawk Capital Partners from June 2020 to February 2022, associate at Great American Capital Partners from August 2019 to June 2020 and associate at at ING Capital LLC April 2018 to August 2019. Throughout his career, Mr. Grigorin has served as a trusted advisor to both private and public companies, guiding them through capital raises, strategic partnerships, and operational optimization. Mr. Grigorin has a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.