Coinbase hires Fannie Mae exec Brian Brooks as chief legal officer

Coinbase has made yet another addition to its C-suite. The cryptocurrency trading platform has hired Brian Brooks, the former executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Fannie Mae, as its chief legal officer.

The hiring is part of the company’s effort to expand its legal, compliance and government affairs teams. Mike Lempres, who until now held the chief legal and risk officer title, will transition into the role of chief policy officer.

“From the time it was founded seven years ago, Coinbase has been a leading advocate for the adoption of cryptocurrency,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a statement. “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.”

Brooks joined Fannie Mae in 2014; before that, he was the vice chairman of OneWest Bank and a managing partner at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers.

The news comes one day after Coinbase announced the hiring of Michael Li as VP of data. Li had spent the last seven years at LinkedIn, most recently as its head of analytics and data science.

Here’s an updated round-up of Coinbase’s other notable 2018 hires:

• Michael Li, VP of data (September). Li was previously the head of analytics and data science at LinkedIn.
• Tim Wagner, VP of engineering (July). Wagner was previously a general manager at Amazon Web Services.
• Jeff Horowitz, chief compliance officer (July). Horowitz was the former global head of compliance at Pershing.
• Jennifer Jones, chief accounting officer (July). Jones joined from EY, where she was a senior manager.
• Alesia Haas, chief financial officer (April). Haas joined from New York-based alternative asset management firm Oz Management.
• Balaji Srinivasan, chief technology officer (April). Srinivasan joined through the company’s acquisition of Earn.com, where he was CEO.
• Rachael Horwitz, VP of communications (April). Horwitz was formerly a partner at Spark Capital.
• Tariq Meyers, global head of belonging and inclusion (April). Meyers was formerly the head of diversity and inclusion at Lyft.
• Emilie Choi, VP of corporate and business development (March). Choi joined from LinkedIn, where she was head of corporate development.

Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong: ‘I’d love to run a public company’

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