The Solana Foundation has appointed Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer and Jamal Raees as General Manager of Payments, reinforcing its leadership team as the blockchain ecosystem increases its focus on institutional adoption, stablecoins and digital payments.
Conlan joins the Foundation after serving as Global CMO at Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. In her new role, she will oversee key areas of Solana Foundation’s strategy, including institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and broader market expansion.
Her appointment comes as blockchain networks increasingly compete to attract banks, asset managers, fintech firms and other financial institutions looking to use public blockchain infrastructure for payments and tokenized assets.
Raees will take responsibility for the Foundation’s payments initiatives after joining from Polygon Labs. His role will include working with payment providers and enterprises to broaden Solana’s use for digital transactions and strengthen its position within the growing stablecoin and blockchain payments market.
His previous experience also includes roles at Bridge and Wyre, giving him exposure to both crypto infrastructure and payment technology.
The Solana Foundation said the appointments coincide with continued growth in financial activity across the network. It reported more than $5 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume in 2026, alongside over $4.5 billion in real-world assets and more than $620 million in tokenized equity supply.
The leadership expansion highlights Solana’s continued efforts to move beyond crypto-native activity and increase the network’s role in institutional finance, global payments and tokenized financial markets.
