Manu Sporny

Manu Sporny has been involved with a variety of technology companies and initiatives over the past 18 years. In 2002, they founded and became the CEO and Owner of Digital Bazaar, Inc., a company that creates Web-based payments, identity, and blockchain technologies. From 2007 to the present, they have been involved with the W3C, co-founding various Working Groups and Community Groups focused on creating technologies around high-stakes credentials for the government, financial, education, and healthcare sectors. Manu has also been the Founder, Chair, and Lead Editor of the JSON-LD Community Group, the Founder and Chair of the Web Payments Community Group, the Chair of the RDFa Working Group, a Member of the Semantic Web Coordination Group, the Co-Chair of the RDFa Working Group, and an Invited Expert. In 2012, they co-founded Aseta, LLC, a company to help governments and municipalities track assets that require regular maintenance. In 2016, they became a Founding Steward and Technical Governance Board of the Sovrin Foundation, a private-sector, international non-profit that was established to govern a network for self-sovereign identity. In 2017, they joined the Board of Advisors of Taqanu, a company that aims to enable anyone with access to a smart phone to establish a trusted Digital ID and obtain access to basic banking services from anywhere in the world. In 2016, they co-founded Spec Ops, a non-profit that is coordinating the world's foremost team of international standardization experts for Web and Internet technologies. In 2013, they became the Chief Technologist of Accreditrust, a company that provides services to validate credentials that represent life-long achievements, certifications, and endorsements. In 2008, they founded the Commons Design Initiative, a community of designers, architects, mechanical engineers, material scientists, software developers, hardware developers, construction engineers, students, teachers and regular everyday folks across the web that have come together to improve the quality of housing available to the world. In 2005, they were the Chief Technology Architect of Shepherd Medical Systems and the Interim Head of Software Development of Advanced Simulation Technology, Inc.

Manu Sporny attended Marshall University from 1995 to 1996, where they earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Manu then attended Virginia Tech from 1996 to 2001, where they also earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.