Meet the Technical Minds Behind the Hyperledger Blockchain Project

Seeking to emulate major, successful open-source projects outside the blockchain space, the Hyperledger Project is an ambitious attempt to unite key stakeholders seeking to leverage the emerging technology.

Announced in December, the project is being led by the Linux Foundation, the trade association that oversees the development of the open-source Linux operating system. Initially called Open Ledger Project and later renamed, the effort includes the support of some 30 firms, including Cisco, Intel, JP Morgan, the London Stock Exchange and Wells Fargo.

As described on its official website, the goal is to advance blockchain technology's use in business by developing both a cross-industry open standard and an open-source development library that would allow businesses to build custom distributed ledger solutions.

Jerry Cuomo, IBM’s vice president of blockchain technologies and a participant in the initiative, told CoinDesk in February that the project aims to apply the ideas behind the blockchain to a wider variety of use cases.

He told CoinDesk at the time:

"We set off to engineer a blockchain fabric from the ground up. It’s not about creating a consortium in some industry, we’re setting out on a mission to build a blockchain for business."

Toward this goal, the Hyperledger Project recently established a Technical Steering Committee (TSC). Led by IBM CTO of Open Cloud Chris Ferris, the TSC is already at work seeking to make this vision a reality.

Committee goals

According to the steering committee's 10th March minutes, the group is already moving on preliminary steps to ensure future work.

An in-person meeting is scheduled to be held from 22nd to 25th March in Brooklyn, New York, which will see sessions on matters such as the project lifecycle and a proposed code of conduct for members.

Further, the group is now developing a white paper on its work following a series of informal presentations that saw developers at Intel and JPMorgan unveil blockchain-based or blockchain-inspired projects.

A separate requirements committee has begun collecting use cases for blockchain technology, with the goal of creating a repository for these assets.

But while the fruits of these efforts may be unknown, the full list of technical steering committee members offers insight as to what might be in store.

So, who is on the Hyperledger TSC? Meet the full team below:

Pete Rizzo contributed reporting.

Featured image via Shutterstock. Portrait images courtesy of the Hyperledger Project, DTCC and LinkedIn