The digital asset market vendor tZero CEO Patrick Byrne has issued a letter to stockholder announcing that he is stepping down as CEO.
Dear Owners,
It should be no surprise to you that I believe blockchain-meets-capital-markets is a world-historic opportunity and, due to our last three years of work with tZERO, we have a pole position (a point upon which I will expand in this week’s earnings call and shareholders meeting). In the interest of seizing this opportunity most aggressively, I am making a significant injection of human capital into tZERO, as follows:
- Saum Noursalehi, formerly president of Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), will assume the role of CEO of tZERO. Out of the thousands of executives I have worked with through the years, I’ve never met anyone who can manage innovation like Saum. As a business-oriented technologist, his fingertip sense of the high costs of centralizing information and strong understanding of product teams and agile management makes him an extraordinarily effective executive. Saum’s proven track record as an innovative leader will help tZERO cement its market-leading position at the forefront of the emerging security token capital markets space.
- To facilitate Saum’s appointment as CEO of tZERO, I am giving up the tZERO CEO title and assuming the role of tZERO Executive Chairman. With this move, I remain no less committed to tZERO, but my work will greatly benefit from the addition of Saum and the additional talent he will bring into tZERO. With this change and infusion of additional leadership into tZERO, I am confident we will have assembled the right team to take the company through its next phase.
- Ralph A. Daiuto, Jr., Esq. becomes president of SpeedRoute and related entities in addition to his roles of general counsel and COO of tZERO. Ralph is an accomplished attorney and business leader with over two decades of experience in the securities industry. He has established and managed several broker-dealers and innovative technology companies and has overseen their daily operation, including legal, compliance, and regulatory matters. He holds various Securities licenses, including the Series 7, Series 24, Series 57, Series 63, and Series 99, and he is admitted to practice law in the states of New York and New Jersey, as well as the U.S. District Courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey.
- After eight years of service, first with SpeedRoute and then tZERO, Joe Cammarata is moving from his executive capacity with the firm to focus on his tZERO board role, where we can continue to benefit from his guidance and vision. Joe has fulfilled the commitment he made to me over three years ago, to stick around this long. I thank Joe for his vision of working to integrate blockchain into the intricate world of capital markets, and for shepherding tZERO from its infancy to the cusp of world-shaking innovation at which it is poised today.
I strongly believe Saum assuming an active leadership role in building tZERO, coupled with his building of a top technology team, will radically accelerate tZERO’s innovation cycle while representing a significant commitment in resources to the success of tZERO.
As my own title and role change from CEO of Overstock to include President of Overstock Retail, I return to take over a wonderful retail executive team, which I am confident is the strongest in company history.
I encourage shareholder participation in our earnings call (scheduled for Tuesday, May 8) and shareholders meeting (scheduled for Wednesday, May 9) to learn more about this next phase in the evolution of our company.
Your humble servant,
Patrick M. Byrne
