Coinbase Team Adds Fannie Mae’s Brian Brooks and LinkedIn’s Michael Li in Same Week

Brian Brooks of Fannie Mae has joined a cryptocurrency firm Coinbase as its chief legal officer. Brooks was the former executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary for Fannie Mae. His other employment experience includes chairman of OneWest Bank and managing partner at law firm O’Melveny & Myers.

Coinbase has been on a hiring spree lately, especially in its legal compliance and government affairs departments. A current employee, Mike Lempres, will transition from his position as chief legal and risk officer to a new position as chief policy officer.

CEO Brian Armstrong addressed the expansion, stating:

From the time it was founded seven years ago, Coinbase has been a leading advocate for the adoption of cryptocurrency. We’ve engaged proactively with regulators as we built products and services that allow people to buy, sell and use cryptocurrency all over the world. In recent years, the industry expanded faster than we could have imagined with an explosion in customer demand and entrepreneurial activity pushing the capabilities of the ecosystem forward. As this trend continues, it is more important than ever that we contribute to a public policy and regulatory environment that fosters innovation while protecting investors.

A few of the company’s most recent 2018 hires include:

• Michael Li, VP of data
• Tim Wagner, VP of engineering
• Jeff Horowitz, chief compliance officer
• Jennifer Jones, chief accounting officer
• Alesia Haas, chief financial officer
• Balaji Srinivasan, chief technology officer
• Rachael Horwitz, VP of communications
• Tariq Meyers
• Emilie Choi, VP of corporate and business development