Former Apple Store Veteran brings more than 20 years of Design and Development Experience to Identity.org
San Francisco, CA — December 13, 2018 — Identity.org today proudly announces the hire of Phillip Shoemaker, who will oversee the development and growth of the decentralized identity ecosystem. Phillip brings years of experience leading the Apple App Store Review team and helping visionary blockchain startups get off the ground with design and development projects. Phillip’s hire comes at a key time as Identity.org is preparing to welcome external organizations to the ecosystem, both as collaborators and participants.
“We see Identity.org as the foundation of the digital identity future. Phillip has a track recording of successfully growing platforms and teams for some of the most respected companies in Silicon Valley, including Apple, Numenta, and Palm, and the caliber of his experience immediately set him apart as a dynamic leader,” said Jonathan Smith, Civic Co-founder and CTO. “Phillip’s knowledge of blockchain and expertise building internal infrastructure will guide Identity.org through a key time of deployment and growth. We’re happy to see him take on the task of building and leading the Identity.org team.”
Phillip has a proven track record of success, and his background shows a history of smart, strategic leadership and software development management. In his position at Apple, under Steve Jobs, Phillip built the Apple App Store Review team from the ground up, taking his team from 4 to over 300 employees. His experience managing one of the biggest and most prestigious app ecosystems will greatly benefit Identity.org, as the ecosystem will start to welcome external developers and organizations in 2019.
Since Apple, he has spent the last 2 years advising blockchain projects and startups, helping them achieve growth and success in a competitive industry. Before Apple, Phillip was Developer Relations Director at Numenta, an open-source software company reverse-engineering the neocortex to study how the brain works. He also worked at Palm as Director of Development Tools, where he drove team focus and strategy, including the development of critical tools that expedited internal processes and team growth.
“Identity is the biggest unsolved problem of our society, and blockchain technology has the potential to completely revolutionize how we prove and verify identity. Enabling a trusted, open-source identity ecosystem, where anyone can contribute or participate, is a key part of making digital identity accessible and functional in our modern world,” said Phillip Shoemaker, Identity.org Executive Director. “I’m looking forward to leading the team and helping solve crucial identity challenges, not only with the Identity.org team but with the global identity community.”
Identity.org is the decentralized, open-source ecosystem that Civic is currently spearheading. Phillip will be responsible for overseeing the development and growth of this ecosystem, and he will be instrumental in helping this project come to life. His responsibilities will include managing the Identity.org objectives and team and defining the parameters around the Civic relationship. Additionally, Phillip will take responsibility for establishing a governance structure for Identity.org that values trust and transparency.
Since Identity.org was announced in July 2018, the team has steadily been working towards open-sourcing the decentralized identity ecosystem. In September, the first open source libraries and smart contracts were announced, and in October, the first Identity.org smart contracts were released on the Ethereum Mainnet. To learn more about Identity.org and the roadmap, please visit our website.
