As announced by the HBAR Foundation on December 20, 2024, Charles Adkins will be resigning as President of the Hedera Council to become the HBAR Foundation’s CEO and oversee its launch as Hedera Foundation in early 2025.
Charles’s transition to the Foundation was officially endorsed by vote of the Hedera Council. The Hedera Council wishes Charles the best in his new role and is confident that, with his extensive business development experience in web3, he will successfully lead Hedera Foundation’s efforts in expanding and strengthening the Hedera ecosystem.
With Charles moving over to the Foundation, the Hedera Council’s Board has appointed Tom Sylvester as Interim President, effective January 1, 2025. Tom has worked at Hedera since February 2018, starting as Associate General Counsel before being promoted to General Counsel in January 2022. As Interim President, he will also continue to serve as Hedera’s General Counsel.
Tom graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Social Studies and obtained his law degree from Yale Law School. Prior to joining Hedera, he was the Senior Director of Policy and Strategy for Tamkeen, an Abu Dhabi-based company that partners with leading international institutions to deliver social, cultural, and educational projects in the UAE. He served on the executive committee for New York University Abu Dhabi and serves on the Board of Braver Angels, a U.S. non-profit focused on political depolarization. With his seven year tenure at Hedera and experience across governance, law, policy, and strategy, Tom’s leadership will ensure continuity in Hedera Council operations and network governance during this transition period.
Brett McDowell, Chair of the Hedera Board of Directors and Governing Council, “On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank Charles for his valuable contributions over the past year, and look forward to seeing all that he will accomplish at Hedera Foundation. With Tom’s intimate knowledge of Hedera’s business and his broad set of skills and experience, I am confident that Hedera will continue its momentum under his leadership as we head into a year of great expectation and opportunity for our industry.”
