Solana Foundation Appoints Former Binance CMO and Polygon Labs Executive to Drive Institutional Growth

The Solana Foundation announced two senior hires aimed at expanding the network’s appeal to institutions and payment providers.

New leadership roles

Rachel Conlan, who spent three years as Binance’s global chief marketing officer and previously held senior positions at OKX, CAA Sports and Havas, joins the foundation as chief strategy officer. Her responsibilities will go beyond marketing to include institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth and go‑to‑market strategy.

Jamal Raees, formerly an executive at Polygon Labs, is appointed general manager of payments. He will focus on stablecoins, tokenized deposits and the broader infrastructure needed to position Solana as a financial settlement network.

Strategic focus on institutions

The foundation says the hires are intended to accelerate institutional adoption and increase payment activity on Solana. It highlights recent ecosystem growth, citing more than $5 trillion in stablecoin volume processed in 2026, over $4.5 billion in real‑world assets, and tokenized equity supply exceeding $620 million.

Positioning in the financial infrastructure space

Solana is shifting from a focus on trading, NFTs and consumer apps toward payments, tokenization and institutional settlement. The network’s high throughput, low transaction costs and existing stablecoin liquidity are presented as competitive advantages against Ethereum, its layer‑2 solutions, and newer payment‑focused blockchains.

By adding experienced leaders with backgrounds in major exchanges and blockchain platforms, the foundation aims to translate Solana’s technical capabilities into products and partnerships that meet the compliance and integration needs of banks, asset managers and payment firms.