Ripple has strengthened its executive team with two new appointments today, securing Benjamin Lawsky to its board in tandem with Ron Will as its CFO. The additions will play key roles in helping steer Ripple’s cross-border payments ambitions, which have been gaining momentum throughout 2017.

Both Mr. Lawsky and Mr. Will represent some of Ripple’s most senior hires to date. Lawsky is a former New York superintendent of Financial Services, boasting two decades of experience across key governmental levels. He steps into the role with an impressive resume, having helped design BitLicense, the state’s regulation for digital asset business operations.

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“Ripple is the leading enterprise blockchain company in the world today and is one that truly understands the importance of regulation-enabled innovation. The company and its leadership are passionate about making our global financial system more efficient, more secure and more fair,” explained Mr. Lawsky.

His addition helps shore up Ripple’s regulatory focus, given his expertise at both state and federal levels. He has a strong familiarity with US-chartered banks and branches and will be a tremendous asset moving forward as Ripple’s real-time gross settlement system continues to expand.

“I share those same goals and am thrilled and humbled to work side by side with their incredible team as they continue to pave the way for the growth and accelerating adoption of blockchain and digital assets in the years ahead,” he added. In his new role at Ripple, Mr. Lawsky will be serving on the group’s executive Board.

Ron Will will step into the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Ripple. As a veteran of the banking sector, he has over three decades of experience as a senior financial executive and investment banker. Most recently, he worked as the CFO of TubeMogul, helping oversee its acquisition by Adobe this past year.

According to Mr. Will: “Throughout my career, I’ve been most excited when working with hyper-growth companies, and as Ripple keeps bringing on customers like American Express and over 100 other financial institutions, it’s clear that this is one of those rare opportunities.”

“Ben deeply understands the nuances of both digital assets and financial regulation, and I’ve seen Ron’s tenacity and ability to scale and execute like none other while we both worked at Yahoo!. Both Ben and Ron’s skillsets will be instrumental as we look to capitalize on the interest and opportunity around blockchain, XRP and the impact they will have on payments in 2018 and beyond,” reiterated Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse.