Advisors

Advisors

Ben Lyon

ADVISOR / Shareholder / Director

Ben is a Silicon Valley veteran and highly experienced executive, General Counsel, Transaction Specialist, Dealmaker and Member/Advisor to senior executive teams and Boards of Directors for Silicon Valley, San Francisco, SoCal and International technology companies spanning Cybersecurity, Nano-tech, AI, Iot, Bio-phama, Fintech, Telecom, SaaS/PaaS, and Mobile technology.  

Significant successes include Ingenio (sold to AT&T) and TellMeNetworks (sold to Microsoft).  

Ben is a Director of BankVault Pty Ltd but until it becomes a US company he does not act in the capacity of General Counsel. 

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Whitfield Diffie - Turing Laureate

Advisor / Shareholder

Whit Diffie is a pioneer of public-key cryptography, a former “Sun Fellow” at Sun Microsystems, and a visiting scholar at Stanford University. 

In 2015 Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman were awarded the $1M Turing Prize (computing’s Nobel Prize) for the invention of public-key encryption. The Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange is the foundation that secures almost all Internet communication.  Every device, every browser, has this algorithm embedded natively, facilitating over $4 trillion per day in global transactions.

The discovery is a work of genius.  A mathematician by background, Whit’s deep non-intuitive insights discovered a fundamental principle that allows two independent parties to set up a common security-secret in public, and then use this to encrypt their communication across that same public network. 

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Shira Rubinoff

ADVISOR

Shira Rubinoff is a recognized cybersecurity executive, advisor, keynote speaker and influence who has been calculated by analysts to be the top female cybersecurity influencer on social media globally. An expert in the human factors of information technology and security, Ms. Rubinoff was named one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business, was named by CSO Magazine as a Woman of Influence.

She has built two cybersecurity product companies and led multiple women-in-technology efforts.   Currently she runs a successful cybersecurity consultancy, serves as Chief Cybersecurity Officer for The Techstrong Group, and provides guidance to numerous Fortune 100 companies in areas of cybersecurity and company thought leadership. She serves on the Boards of Pace University Cybersecurity Program, The Executive Women’s Forum for Information Security, Leading Women in Technology, as well as various other boards.
 
Ms. Rubinoff has published many articles, and lectures, on topics related to the human factors of cybersecurity. She holds several patents/patents-pending in areas related to the application of psychology to improve information technology and Cybersecurity.
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Brett Looney

ADVISOR / SHAREHOLDER

Brett is an engineer/entrepreneur and technology leader. He co-founded the technical consulting firm L7, which was acquired by Amcom (now Vocus). He later served as Amcom’s Head of Innovation, and after the Vocus acquisition moved to AWS as a Solutions Architect  Brett currently divides his time between advising new startups incubating cloud-based technologies.
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Neil Richardson

ADVISOR / shareholder

Neil is a specialist developer in telecommunication provisioning systems. He joined BankVault in 2011 and provided the critical influence that enabled the company’s breakthrough in releasing its Rainmaker cloud platform. He was CTO from 2015 – 2022 during which he oversaw technical development and innovation of the BankVault products. Previously, Neil was the Senior Programmer for iiNet, Australia’s 2nd largest ISP, developing the organization’s provisioning systems. He also worked in similar roles within Optus and Telstra.

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Richard Maltman

ADVISOR / SHAREHOLDER

Richard is the General Counsel and a Director of BankVault Pty Ltd in Australia. He has a career spanning corporate law in Australia and serves as Executive Director of Aphelion Legal, a boutique law firm specializing in energy, resources, corporate and commercial law. He has extensive experience in resources developments and transactions in internationally.
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Martijn Hoffmans

ADVISOR / GO TO MARKET STRATEGY - REvenue operations

Accomplished, innovative, and strategy-driven cyber security professional with over 15 years of pan-European experience in IT cybersecurity developing, hunting and growing sales results. Track record identifying new business opportunities and developing profitable client, channel, and alliance relationships representing a new breed of technical sales men being an avid believer of systems thinking, designing replicable and systematic sales approaches over one off wins.

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Patrick Edwards

ADVISOR / SHAREHOLDER

Patrick has over 24 years of experience in Banking and Capital Markets. He possesses multiple years of proven leadership experience setting strategic direction and influencing change. As a leader, Patrick works well with new technologies and displays problem-solving creativity, empathy, and curiosity. Additionally, he has Big Four Consultancy experience with PwC and has worked with Money Center Banks such Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, BNY Mellon, HSBC, and MUFG. More than a leader and implementer, Patrick has the unique capability of evangelizing a vision, leading to cross-organizational support. He possesses solid business insight, with the ability to ascertain and analyze customer needs, forecast goals, streamline operations, and envision new program concepts leading to increased revenue generation. Patrick joins Bankvalut.com from Dassault Systems, where he was Head of Business Consulting and responsible for business development.
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David Mierowsky

ADVISOR / SHAREHOLDER

David brings BankVault years of successful experiences growing technology companies.  He Founded Fundi Software (Acquired by Rocket) — an IBM global partner and a leading provider of tools of IMS and CICS systems.

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David Kaupp

Advisor / Marketing

David is a strategic CMO advisor to BankVault, bringing over 25 years of marketing leadership across SaaS, cybersecurity, and deep-tech. He’s led global growth initiatives at companies including Converge (an HP-led supply chain consortium), Xeros (sustainable hard-tech), and Aveksa (IAM, acquired by RSA Security). David has guided organizations through acquisitions, IPOs, and market expansions, blending creative brand strategy with data-driven execution. At BankVault, he helps shape go-to-market strategy, sharpen messaging, and position marketing as a growth engine in fast-evolving industries.
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Steven Tot

ADVISOR / marketing

Steve has 25 years of international ICT, SaaS and cloud experience spanning Australia, the UK, and Silicon Valley in various roles including Go-to-Market, product marketing, pre-sales solution consulting, sales & account management, Partner & Alliance management to a senior leadership level. Steve is a former Head of Global Consulting and General Manager, ICT Channels at Telstra.  He is passionate about disruptive technology that enables customers to improve their business advantage. 
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