/team
We are Lucky
We are a growing team of Web3 professionals building and supporting the interoperable Web3 community. We are focused on security, decentralization, privacy and collaboration – while empowering the intersection of web3 and social good.
If you are looking for an opportunity to join a high-impact team of great people, please contact us.
Corporate Team
Richard Shorten | Chief Alchemist
Rich (aka Shorty35) is the founding partner of venture firm Silvermine Capital and co-founder of Lucky Friday. He has been a board and management team member of several internet infrastructure companies, including those listed on each of the NYSE and NASDAQ. Rich is also a former corporate attorney at the NYC law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore, earning him some cred in the dealmaking and regulatory streets. Rich has taught the National Ski Patrol but nevertheless skis at reckless speeds. He is also a skilled poker player but is generally eaten alive by the quants who are half his age and play game theory optimal.
Thomas Chaffee | Chief Actuator
Tom is a serial technology entrepreneur, a Silvermine partner, and co-founder of Lucky Friday. He was a public company CEO, eventually exiting to two Fortune 500 companies after building much of the original tech behind Realtor.com and Sprint’s first consumer website. Most recently, he and his wife co-founded Dreamers Academy, a tuition-free nonprofit Title 1 charter school in Sarasota, FL, serving more than 650 families in need. Tom is an accomplished musician who enjoyed a gloriously misspent youth playing alongside several major stadium acts, including Styx, Dan Fogelberg, the Beach Boys, and the oft-underappreciated musical geniuses Spinal Tap.
David Chapman | Principal
David (aka 1xKBL) is a Principal at Silvermine, and a successful crypto investor since 2017. KBL is the creator of one of the highest-grossing NFT projects in Polkadot/Kusama – the Kusama Kingdom. Prior to joining Silvermine/Lucky Friday, David worked with a very fancy calculator at Goldman Sachs (London) after leaving behind a less fancy calculator at Deloitte. Despite his agility from years playing rugby, he has never finished higher than 3rd in Norfolk’s annual greasy pole competition.
Core Operations Team (including some important frens at GlobalStake 😉)
Will Roopchan | Chief Technology Officer
Will (aka Paradox) is a senior developer with 18+ years of experience in the media and energy sectors before turning to Web3. Initially founding his own validator business under the name Paranodes, Will is a Council Member, Senior Ambassador and Community Moderator for Kusama, and is a recognized leader in areas of Polkadot and Kusama governance and validator operations. Will loves all people, relishes decentralization and he also votes his principles and conviction, even when it’s not the popular choice.
Mark Chaffee | Chief Chaos Wrangler
Mark has built enterprise applications in Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. He architected Motorola’s first Intranet system, built a content management system from the ground up, and is agile as both a front- and back-end developer. Mark has an MBA and careers as a singer songwriter and pastor, none of which adequately prepared him for the Chaos of Web 3.
Tom Kiblin | Head of Infrastructure
Tom has built some of the most substantial backbone infrastructure for today’s Internet. He served as a Principal Engineer for Cisco/INS, Nortel, and Wellfleet Communications, building the initial early infrastructure elements of Web 1.0. In 2001, Tom founded Defender Hosting, which he eventually sold to private equity (Defender is now known as Virtacore).
Ryan Haczynski | Director of Fellowship & Protocol Relations
Ryan (aka “Phunky”) is a lifelong learner, former educator, and world-class nerd who fell down the Web3 rabbit hole. Widely known for his friendly, positive perspective, Phunky is our communications and outreach specialist for Lucky Friday, connecting our team with promising protocols in need of top tier infrastructure, while serving as “Head Teddy” of our perpetual philanthropic project, Teddy DAO.
Scott Ashman | Head of Deployment
Scott is a full-stack developer architecting some of the most highly-safeguarded, scalable systems and applications used by the US Armed Forces. He recently built the high-security aerospace standards and supply chain certification system used by the Department of Defense. He also has done significant work for the FBI, but he can’t talk about it…