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- The Solana Foundation appointed former Binance executive Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer and former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments.
- Conlan will lead institutional partnerships and ecosystem growth while Raees will expand Solana as payment infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
- The Foundation reported over $5 trillion in 2026 stablecoin volume, though these metrics are Foundation-reported rather than independently verified measures.
The Solana Foundation has appointed former Binance executive Rachel Conlan as chief strategy officer and former Polygon Labs executive Jamal Raees as general manager of payments. The hires add senior leadership focused on institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and payment infrastructure. The Foundation announced both appointments on Sept. 24.
Conlan Takes Over Institutional Strategy
Conlan will lead strategy across institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and go-to-market initiatives aimed at companies and users building on Solana. She joins after spending three years at Binance, where she served as global chief marketing officer.
Conlan previously held senior roles at OKX, CAA Sports and Havas. She said her focus will include helping businesses move from evaluating Solana to implementing its infrastructure.
“That means making the value clear, building the right institutional relationships and helping businesses move from interest to implementation.”
Raees Will Lead Payments Expansion
Raees joins from Polygon Labs as general manager of payments. He previously worked at stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge and payments company Wyre.
The Foundation said Raees will work with payment companies, enterprises, and ecosystem participants to expand the use of Solana as payments infrastructure. His role will include efforts around stablecoins, tokenized deposits and other blockchain-based payment use cases.
Solana Reports $5T in Stablecoin Volume
The Solana Foundation said the network recorded more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume during 2026. It also reported more than $4.5 billion in tokenized real-world assets and over $620 million in tokenized equity supply on the network. Those figures are Foundation-reported ecosystem metrics rather than independently verified measures of institutional adoption.
Foundation Builds Senior Leadership Team
Solana Foundation President Lily Liu said the appointments are intended to strengthen leadership around institutional adoption and payments. The hires follow the addition of former Twitter and Mozilla security executive Michael Coates as the Foundation’s chief information security officer earlier this year.
Conlan and Raees join as the Foundation continues working with financial institutions, payment companies and asset managers exploring blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
