Meet the GDA team
GDA Capital team founders & board of directors
David is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of bringing disruptive technology to market and generating strong returns for investors.
David excels at identifying value, creating a vision and executing said vision through sound strategic development. David intuitively sees the various threads of opportunity that wind throughout an organization and uses his strong relationship skills and industry insights to bring these opportunities together into a coherent objective.
David was the catalyst behind bringing 4 ventures from the technology and advertising space to market. Since those exits, David has gone on to launch Secure Digital Markets followed by Global Digital Assets, where he occupies the roles of CEO & Executive Chairman respectively.
Through these roles, David has committed himself to facilitating digital asset liquidity and blockchain adoption on a global scale.
Michael Gord is the co-founder & CEO of Global Digital Assets (GDA) Group of Companies, which are focused across capital markets verticals in the blockchain industry. Michael is also the co-founder and COO of Metaverse Group, which is vertically integrated in the metaverse real estate market.
Previously, Michael was the CEO of MLG Blockchain, focused on enterprise and government consulting and development. Michael has advised billions in digital asset offerings and has worked with Fortune 500 companies and global governments.
Michael was one of the first advocates for digital assets in Canada, built the first university communities for blockchains in Canada and was the first enterprise blockchain developer that TD Bank hired.
Michael has introduced digital assets to tens of thousands of people through his initiatives.
Zachary Friedman is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor building at the intersections of finance, blockchain, art and technology.
Zachary currently sits as the COO of Global Digital Assets (GDA), a leading blockchain focused investment bank and CSO of Secure Digital Markets (SDM), a leading global digital asset brokerage.
Through these roles, Zachary has worked with world leading institutions, family offices, governments, and Fortune 500 companies alike.
He has facilitated over $6B of digital asset transactions, advised on over $7B of token offerings and continues to evangelize mainstream digital asset adoption globally.
Zachary is also a founder of Metaverse Group, the world’s first and leading digital real estate company, NFT Bazl, the leading luxury NFT art gallery and worked on the world’s first
blockchain focused SPAC on the NASDAQ ($BMAQU).
Zachary, who is extremely passionate about entrepreneurship, is a blockchain mentor at
Founders Fund, previously launched his own accelerator (W5) and co-produced Elevate
Toronto, Canada’s largest technology conference
GDA team leadership
Richard Zhou
VP, Finance
Rich was previously the Controller and Head of FP&A for a Canadian Challenger bank, where he raised over $60M of Venture Capital funds. Prior, he has also been involved in large M&A transactions such as the Walmart Canada Bank sale. He is a Canadian who was originally from China and has lived in Japan.
Ryan Mueller
VP, COMPLIANCE
Ryan has deep experience in risk management, fraud prevention & investigation, operational compliance, and regulatory compliance. Since 2003 he has worked in organizations ranging from start up to enterprise level in stored value, ewallet, payment processing, and various crypto focused companies.
Alex Dohi
Head of Corporate Strategy and Compliance
Katrina Gorzheltson
Director, Finance
Joaquim Miro
Founding Partner SVP, Global Growth
Joaquim Miro is a serial entrepreneur focussed on the Blockchain & FinTech industries. After founding The Alternative Ways while traveling around the world, Joaquim built MLG Blockchain alongside Michael. In 2017, Joaquim became the youngest person to ever sit on a council for the Canadian Marketing Association. His work has been featured on BNN, Bloomberg, Yahoo and many others. His areas of expertise include establishing remote work processes, executing global marketing campaigns, staffing and enabling high growth scaling. Outside of work Joaquim keeps himself busy with travel, piano and paragliding.
Mariana Zamriga
Director, HR
James Godfrey
SVP, International Banking
James Godfrey is the director of corporate banking at GDA Capital. James is a senior multi-product credit professional with strong trading, sales and leadership skills from his prior experience as the managing director at Nomura & Mizuho where he created the largest corporate bond trading desk in Europe. Currently, James spearheads GDA’s capital markets and banking division where he oversees fund management strategies, asset allocations, and portfolio management.
Jonah Mirsky
SVP, Digital Asset Offerings
Jonah was previously head of IR at Secure Digital Markets where he built relationships with institutional capital groups. Jonah now increases scale and distribution of digital assets by managing multi-touch marketing campaigns. Jonah has entrepreneurship major from Dalhousie’s Rowe School of business.
Will Bartlett
VP, Research
Will has work experience with RBC, Cushman Wakefield, and several of his own ventures. He’s been specialized and investing in blockchain since 2017, holds a Finance Major from McGill University, and has a unique mix of experiences that include capital markets, valuations, and marketing, with a focus in direct response marketing.
Ori Ohayon
VP, Corporate Development
Born in Paris, raised in London and currently residing in Toronto, Ori has an abundance of experiences both personally and professionally. Before joining GDA to head corporate development, derivatives trading and founding NFT BAZL, Ori worked at Goldman Sachs and TD Securities in Capital Markets, with a consistent focus on Blockchain integration, derivatives sales, and trading.
Ori’s core strength is his forward-looking and solutions focused mindset. He marries practicality with innovation, bringing a big-picture, entrepreneurial framework to original projects. Leveraging his background in quantitative finance and investment banking.
Jean-Luc Gustave
VP, Asia
Michael Van De Velde
Senior Manager, Financial Reporting
Michael Van De Velde is the senior manager of accounting at GDA Capital. He has 7 years of work experience with Deloitte, KPMG, and has been a blockchain enthusiast since 2018. Currently, Michael also manages the portfolio of investments at GDA Capital where he oversees asset allocations, portfolio management, and investment management decisions.
Calvin Leyon
Consultant, Technical Development
Daniel Shakhmundes
Lead Developer for RARE
Alexandra MukhamedGaliyeva
VP, Accounting
Akshay Sood
Senior Associate, Research
Diana Nguyen
Office Manager
Matthew Zanardo
vp, metaverse advisory
Melissa Goncalves
Exective Assistant to David Shafrir
Katrin Persson
Executive Assistant, Michael Gord
Ariel Benitez Gonzalez
Executive Assistant, Zach Friedman
Aziza Raimova
Financial Analyst
Morgan Davies
Investment Analyst
Morgan Davies is a Financial Analyst at GDA Group, performing monthly analysis and presentations for management on portfolio companies, as well as weekly analysis of investments including digital assets and equities. He is responsible for ad hoc investment related financial models and presentations including valuations, forecasts, and raise materials. He also helps run accounting operations including cash management, A/R A/P, and reconciliation. He has a degree from Western University in chemical engineering and has previously held engineering consulting and start-up sales roles.
Tali Friedman
Marketing Coordinator, Events
Tali is a graphic designer and digital marketing specialist with experience in branding, content creation and social media management. In addition to her creative pursuits, Tali’s role at GDA is to help develop brand identity, increase exposure, and engage audiences in meaningful ways. This is accomplished through the implementation of disruptive marketing strategies as well as the launch and execution of multiple events (such as educational summits, startup competitions and incubator programs, among others).
Jaineel Patel
Associate, Community
Renata Zairetdinova
ANALYST, CAPITAL MARKETS
Melodie Buttigieg
Coordinator, Human Resources
Melodie is the HR Coordinator at GDA Capital and believes in the power of helping employees advance their careers by creating an inclusive and motivating workplace for employees to thrive in. Melodie is responsible for multiple functions within the HR department such as on/offboarding, hiring and learning and development. Outside of work, Melodie enjoys all things nature and creating music. She also spends her free time volunteering for the Etobicoke Humane Society.
Jeff Chong
Backend Web3 Developer
Zilan Ouyan
Frontend Web3 Developer
Alexander Grant
Junior Marketing Specialist
Faith Azmin
Coordinator, Social Media Marketing
Emaan Faith is a Visual Artist and Social Media Marketing Manager with a strong background in Sales. After managing operations at Struck Contemporary Art Gallery, Faith decided to pursue her own passion for art and travelling when she fell in love with crypto and blockchain technology. Faith has experience growing social media presence for a variety of companies, is a community manager and brings her creative entrepreneurial flair to everything she does.
Luka Kremic
Capital Markets Analyst
Matthew Hope
Frontend Web3 Developer
Gabriel Barbera
Web Developer
Gabriel is the web developer of GDA. He is a Front End Developer and Graphic Designer with more than 10 years of experience working with Front End Technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript and popular CMS like WordPress/Woocommerce. He has a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design, working in this field mainly in Branding and Web Design, using Software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe XD, Figma, and InVision.
Nate B.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER