Christopher Allen – As the co-author of the TLS security protocol, Allen has shifted his focus towards decentralized identity. He co-founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Credentials Community Group, which provides leadership in the decentralized identity space.
Daniel Buchner – Heading the Decentralized Identity initiative at Microsoft, Buchner is pioneering efforts with the ION project on the Bitcoin blockchain. His work emphasizes privacy, user control, and scalable solutions.
Drummond Reed – A key player at Evernym and the Sovrin Foundation, Reed has passionately advocated for self-sovereign identity. His contributions to the development of the DID (Decentralized Identifier) standard are notable.
Kaliya Young – Often referred to as “Identity Woman”, Young has been instrumental in fostering the global community around self-sovereign identity. She’s the co-founder of the Internet Identity Workshop, where many decentralized identity concepts have been birthed.
Rouven Heck – As the co-founder and product lead of uPort, a self-sovereign identity platform built on Ethereum, Heck’s work is at the intersection of identity and blockchain, emphasizing user-centric control.
Johann Polecsak – CTO and co-founder of Quidli, Polecsak is deeply engaged in building protocols and solutions for decentralized identity, with a particular focus on incentivizing contributions in open systems.
Joe Andrieu – A key contributor to the W3C Verifiable Claims Working Group, Andrieu’s expertise lies in developing standards for decentralized digital identity, ensuring that systems built on these standards are interoperable.
Elizabeth M. Renieris – As the founder of the Hackylawyer, a consultancy focused on law and policy engineering, Renieris offers critical insights into the legal, ethical, and social implications of decentralized identity systems.
Manu Sporny – Founder of Digital Bazaar, Sporny is a primary driver behind the Verifiable Claims and Web Payments specifications at W3C. His work centers around creating a decentralized web, where users have control over their own data.
Kim Cameron – Recognized as the architect of identity at Microsoft, Cameron’s “Laws of Identity” have been foundational in the field. He’s been instrumental in shifting the discourse towards decentralized and user-centric identity systems.
