MADISON, Wis.–CULedger, the blockchain initiative being led by CUNA, the Mountain West CU Association and Best Innovation Group, has named its first CEO.
The company said John Ainsworth has been selected to lead the initiative.
Ainsworth comes to CULedger from Mastercard where he was executive vice president of North America Markets, responsible for managing the independent bank and credit union segments. He will assume day-to-day leadership of CULedger, a distributed ledger technology company, Dec. 18, 2017.
“A large part of my financial services career has been helping credit unions meet the evolving needs of its members,” Ainsworth said. “It’s well documented that we can anticipate more change in the next 10 years than over the last 50 years. Staying relevant in the age of digital disruption is a current and present challenge for the credit union industry.”
Ainsworth has also held the position of senior vice president of global accounts at Mastercard, where he managed business development activities, and has more than 30 years of product and sales management experience with major financial organizations such as SunTrust Banks and Visa International.
In a released statement, Ainsworth said he looks forward to spreading CULedger’s cutting-edge technology across the credit union system. “CULedger is not just about having a seat at the table as it relates to this technology,” he said. “Credit unions will be able to implement the technology and utilize the current and future applications that run on it. It would take other organizations a lot of time, money and resources to create what CULedger has already created.
“I love (CUNA CEO) Jim Nussle’s quote about credit unions from 2016—‘Do we want to be the disruptor or do we want to be disrupted?’” Ainsworth continued. “Blockchain has already been substantiated as a critical element of digital transformation. In working through a national consortium of credit unions and trusted industry partners, CULedger is uniquely positioned to help credit unions serve the digital needs of its members. I’m very honored to lead CULedger in this effort.”