About Denelle Dixon

Denelle Dixon leads the Stellar Development Foundation - a non-profit organization building, sustaining, and growing the Internet for payments using blockchain technology. At SDF, she builds the Stellar Network with the awesome mission of 'global financial inclusion.' She works with an amazing team who is inspired by the mission, excited to build the technology, and poised to make it all come together and achieve real and impactful solutions. Prior to her current role, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Secretary at Mozilla Corporation. During her time at Mozilla, she spearheaded Mozilla’s legal, policy, business, revenue, and operations in defense of an open, transparent, and commercially sustainable Web. She has been a vocal advocate for net neutrality, encryption, the disclosure of vulnerabilities by governments, and greater user choice and control. Before joining Mozilla full-time in 2012, she was an external advisor for the organization. Her past experiences also include working at the private equity firm Terra Firma on brand issues and risk assessment, and managing Yahoo!’s legal team advising on products, human rights, antitrust, and litigation issues. Born and raised in Gilroy, California, Denelle Dixon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of California, Davis and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She currently sits on boards for Airtm, a blockchain and bank-connected digital wallet and peer-to-peer exchange platform, Tala, a financial services platform serving the world’s underbanked, MoneyGram International, a leading global financial technology company that connects the world's communities, and Trust and Safety Professional Association, a nonprofit that supports professionals who develop and enforce principles and policies that define acceptable behavior and content online. She was named to the Forbes 50 over 50 list in 2023.  She led the launch of Stellar Aid Assist, a new aid disbursement system that is used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Ukraine's government has collaborated with the Stellar blockchain network as a platform to build a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Denelle Dixon is the first in her family to go to college. Now at 53, she believes that working on newer technology like blockchain is a strength.