Solana Foundation Appoints Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer and Jamal Raees as General Manager of Payments

Solana Foundation Strengthens Leadership with Two Key Appointments

The Solana Foundation announced two high‑profile hires that signal a decisive push toward institutional adoption and global payments infrastructure. Rachel Conlan joins as Chief Strategy Officer, while Jamal Raees takes on the role of General Manager of Payments. Both leaders bring deep experience from major crypto and fintech firms, positioning Solana to accelerate its role in the emerging Token Supercycle—the shift of money, assets, and ownership onto always‑on internet infrastructure.

Rachel Conlan: Turning Vision into Adoption

Conlan’s mandate is to translate the Foundation’s strategy into tangible market penetration. With a background as Global Chief Marketing Officer at Binance and senior roles at OKX, CAA Sports, and Havas, she has a proven track record of turning complex technology into mainstream adoption. Her focus will span:

• Institutional Partnerships – Building relationships with banks, asset managers, and other financial institutions that can benefit from Solana’s high‑throughput, low‑latency network.
• Ecosystem Growth – Expanding the developer and user base through targeted go‑to‑market initiatives.
• Go‑to‑Market Enablement – Crafting clear value propositions that help businesses move from interest to implementation.

Conlan’s own words capture the essence of her role: “The opportunity now is to bring that to a much wider audience. That means making the value clear, building the right institutional relationships and helping businesses move from interest to implementation.”

Jamal Raees: Scaling Payments Worldwide

Raees, formerly of Polygon Labs and with experience at Bridge and Wyre, will spearhead Solana’s expansion in payments. He will work closely with payment companies, enterprises, and the broader ecosystem to position Solana as a global payments infrastructure. Key priorities include:

• Enterprise Integration – Enabling large‑scale payment solutions that leverage Solana’s performance, reliability, and developer ecosystem.
• Global Reach – Extending Solana’s presence beyond crypto into mainstream finance, making it a viable platform for cross‑border transactions and real‑time settlements.
• Product Development – Building tools and APIs that simplify the adoption of blockchain‑native payments for businesses of all sizes.

Raees emphasizes that “Payments are one of the clearest areas where blockchain infrastructure is moving from promise to production.” His leadership will help cement Solana’s reputation as a reliable backbone for global finance.

A Cohesive Vision for the Token Supercycle

President Lily Liu framed the appointments as a response to Solana’s rapid growth: more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume and $4.5 billion in real‑world assets in 2026 alone. The Foundation is now moving beyond experimentation into full‑scale production, with assets and financial activity becoming native to the internet. Conlan and Raees, together with existing leaders like Chief Information Security Officer Michael Coates, form a leadership team poised to accelerate this transition.

The new hires are part of a broader trend of senior operators choosing Solana as a platform for building the next generation of financial infrastructure. With events like Breakpoint 2026 on the horizon, the Foundation is set to showcase its ecosystem’s capabilities to a global audience of builders and founders.

Practical Takeaway

For enterprises and developers, the appointments mean clearer pathways to integrate Solana’s infrastructure into real‑world financial workflows. Whether you’re looking to launch tokenized assets, build cross‑border payment solutions, or simply explore the benefits of on‑chain finance, Solana’s leadership is now better positioned to guide you from concept to production.

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TL;DR: Solana Foundation has hired Rachel Conlan as Chief Strategy Officer and Jamal Raees as General Manager of Payments to accelerate institutional adoption and global payments infrastructure, marking a key step in the Token Supercycle where financial activity moves onto always‑on internet infrastructure.