Meet the Team
Jason R. Cooner - Chairman, President and CEO
Jason is a world leading expert in large-scale banking and financial infrastructure design and development across Web2 (TradFi), Web3 (DeFi) and Web4 (DeFED) domains. He holds a unique level of expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and environmental science, as these areas begin to serve as tools to monetize natural resources as Real World Assets.
His experience includes developing and deploying the Department of Defense's first Internet management portal - UUNET, helping architect the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Protocol to drive all communications between banks globally, and creating the business model for the Machine-2-Machine sector (M2M), today known as the Internet of Things (IoT).
Antonio J. Colón - Board Member, Chief Financial Officer
Antonio J. Colón - Board Member, Chief Financial Officer
Antonio founded SJU Global in 2019 to aggregate several business alternatives and offer international investors a vehicle to take advantage of the favorable tax laws offered to investors that move to Puerto Rico or for companies that exports its services from the island. Invested in a fuel initiative that holds a patent in fuel cleaning including Sulfur, Vanadium, Mercury and others. Established SJU Fuels which developed a system to improve fuels through water and fuel emulsions for the transportation, maritime, industrial, commercial and electricity generation. SJU Fuels achieved savings to clients from 20-30% while reducing NOx, COx, SOx. Reduction of soot and Black Carbon in the range of 80-90% thus complying to new environmental regulations including but not limited to IMO 2030.
Antonio provides clients with sustainability alternatives to reduce their fuel consumption and green house gases and its carbon footprint. Finally provide our customers with sound advise on how to combine technologies. This includes combining zero carbon emissions technologies with energy storage systems combined with resilient and immediate production systems, thus providing energy independence at a community, industrial and micro grid level. Help our clients establish partnerships within the UN Sustainability Development Goals. Our technology provides our clients to comply with UN SDG.
In January 2012 he joined Great Bay Energy LLC on an CFO and CRO capacity. Great Bay specialized in trading electricity contracts in the NYISO, NEISO, PJM, MISO, and ERCOT. Later through Great Bay Global, we traded oil and other hydrocarbon contracts. Antonio started his career as an auditor working for Arthur Andersen. Later he spent some years in Latin America performing M&A work. Furthermore he became controller of a telecommunications provider in Puerto Rico which was bought by the Liberty Media Group.
Gunther Sonnenfeld - Chief Technology Officer
As a systems architect, Gunther has been a part of 125 special projects and 70 early stage companies on 5 continents, and is the co-inventor of over a dozen trade secrets involving decentralized financial instruments, unique environmental/sustainability methodologies, advanced cybersecurity operations and leading-edge software applications, including some of the first AI/deep learning platforms. Today, he plays an instrumental role in the development of Web4 software, and developed the W4S (Web4 security) encryption system, which is quantum tolerant at the object/kernel level. He is also developing a meta framework for AI data processing called CHO7R, which saves massive amounts of time and man hours on payment/fulfillment infrastructure.
His last venture, RAIR, created the first AI-enabled enterprise tool for Ethereum developers to solidify tokenization in Layer 2, and he co-developed the first patent for DDRM (distributed digital rights management). In 2018, he was recognized by Sage as one of the top 100 global leaders in blockchain development. In 2010, he received a Forrester Groundswell Award for his participation in developing small business networks for Skype and Adobe. He has also served as an advisor to JP Morgan's emerging technology group, and was an advisor to C-PET (the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies in Washington, DC), consulting to key nanotechnology consortiums with the UN General Assembly, UNESCO, The World Economic Forum, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NIST, as well as U.S. technology and FinTech committees for both houses of Congress.
Gunther is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and has collaborated on advanced computing curricula at the graduate and doctorate levels with USC's Annenberg and Marshall Schools, Claremont McKenna's Randall Lewis Center, UC Irvine’s Beall Applied Innovation School, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, SKEMA Business School, and MIT's New Media Lab. Gunther and his wife are devout Catholics, living in South Florida.
Matthew Zorn - Chief Risk Officer
Matthew Zorn is a seasoned finance professional and entrepreneur based in Miami, Florida, with a deep expertise in hedge funds, commodity trading advisors (CTAs), and risk management. As the founder of Chain Gain Analytics & Consulting, he leverages his extensive industry knowledge to provide specialized analytics and consulting services, particularly in emerging areas like blockchain and tokenization. His career trajectory reflects a strong foundation in capital markets, where he has demonstrated a knack for securing mandates and training credit professionals, earning him recognition as a go-to expert in his field.
Zorn's professional journey includes nearly 18 years at Deutsche Bank, where he played a pivotal role in managing risk within the hedge fund and CTA sectors. During this tenure, he was instrumental in helping the firm secure key mandates while mentoring numerous colleagues on trading products and credit strategies. His contributions were highly valued, as evidenced by endorsements from industry peers who praised his strong grasp of complex financial instruments and his ability to enhance team performance in credit risk management.
Recently, Zorn transitioned to a new position at Santander in New York, marking a fresh chapter in his career amid his ongoing entrepreneurial pursuits. His interests extend to innovative technologies such as onchain capital markets, as seen in his engagement with related content. With recommendations highlighting his collaborative nature and expertise, Zorn continues to influence the finance landscape through his consulting firm and professional endeavors.
David Lopez-Kurtz - Legal Counsel and Corporate Secretary
David focuses his practice on emerging technology, including digital assets, blockchain technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) / large language models (LLMs). Drawing on the firm’s comprehensive set of capabilities, he advises on a broad spectrum of matters, including project formation, structuring, and launch, financing strategy, federal and state securities laws, and digital asset sales. David’s practice is characterized by its emphasis on ever-evolving regulatory and compliance landscapes and emphasis on thought-leadership and learning. David has been published and speaks on current and evolving developments in the world of crypto, blockchain, Web3, metaverse, and AI, including repeated publication by the National Law Review and Law360.
To provide Web3 industry participants a proactive option for navigating the ever shifting and sometimes piecemeal regulatory framework they operate within, David works with clients throughout the development, implementation, and maintenance of bespoke compliance programs. With the support of a fractionalized Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), clients are afforded affirmative and ongoing compliance oversight and strategic counsel. In addition to his work with Web3, AI, and LLMs companies and investors, David maintains a vibrant practice working on traditional corporate and securities matters, with an emphasis on private and public securities transactions, disclosure reporting, and offering remediation, as well as representing both large and small companies on all aspects of business formation, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory compliance. David has advised clients through a variety of strategies, alternative securities offering (Reg A+, Reg D / Rule 506(c), Reg S, and Reg CF).
When counseling clients, David maintains focus on building relationships based on trust, communication, and responsiveness. He aims to incorporate the lessons learned as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law when counseling clients into his daily practice, and firmly believes that nothing teaches you a subject more fully and more deeply than learning how to teach it to others.
Sean Barger - Senior Advisor
Sean Barger is a serial entrepreneur. Known as the first producer of Tetris games in the U.S.A. (All on PCs DOS, APPLE, MACS, ATARI, AMIGA, C-64). The first professional releases of the game! Sean produced 55 games after that. Founded Equilibrium a software company, published Debabelizer Pro Publisher, credited in 9 issued patents for dynamic imaging and video, Mediarich Server product line. Managing Director of CPUCoin. - powering the sharing economy of computing - the Computing Global Network (CGN) for Generative AI, High-Definition NFTs, and Web3.