LOUIS WILLACY is the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Tari Labs,  developer of a blockchain protocol designed for the issuance and management of  programmable non fungible tokens (NFTs). In his role, Louis oversees global operations,  finance, talent development, regulatory strategy and commercial transactions. He is  responsible for ensuring the company’s operations run smoothly and that its workforce is  highly engaged and executing with clear alignment with the company’s strategic goals,

Louis has more than two decades’ operating experience with high growth technology  companies and is an expert in working with complex technologies and the challenging  issues they sometimes implicate. He began his career focused on M&A and corporate  46 BLACK ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS LAWYERS ASSOCIATION securities transactions and has spent the bulk of his career serving as a trusted advisor to company boards, CEOs and  executive teams. A proven people leader, he has served as the head of human resources for global workforces with over 250  employees with notable successes in the area of organizational development, compensation strategy, employee engagement  and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Prior to Tari, Louis led cross-functional teams at social platform operators The Meet Group, Ifwe and Tagged and  publishing company The Deal. He started his career at the NY-based law firm Dewey Ballantine LLP.

Louis is an active leader in education-focused nonprofits and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees  of GO Public Schools, which seeks to ensure all children have access to quality schools and effective teaching. Previously, he  served as a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Paul’s Episcopal Schoolon and of the People’s Community Partnership  Federal Credit Union. Louis received his JD from Columbia Law School (Columbia Law Review) and his BA from Wesleyan University (Government). A creator at heart, Louis enjoys leveraging technology to build new ways to solve problems,  composing music and writing fiction. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and two children.