Affiliation: Founder and CEO, Knova

Natalya Thakur is the Founder and CEO of Knova, B2B infrastructure software that provides real-time asset orchestration and transaction operation tools for businesses working across traditional and digital assets. Natalya has served across a variety of financial and technology roles, including experiences at BlackRock, Google[X], Celo, IDEO CoLab, Morgan Stanley, the Hoover Institution, and as co-founder/advisor of Stanford’s Future of Digital Currency Initiative (a partnership with the United Nations).

She is an avid public speaker and angel investor/LP, her work has been featured in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, American Banker, Coindesk, BIS publications amongst others. Her career has led her to work with top industry experts such as Condoleezza Rice, Marty Chavez, Eric Schmidt, Darrell Duffie, David Mazieries, Nick Burns, Gary Gensler, Adrienne Harris, and many other executives from government, technology and finance. She was recently named a finalist for the 2025 UBS Female Founders Award, and was featured in the 2024 Women in Fintech Powerlist, Standout 45 for Senior Leaders.

Thakur holds a BA (honors) in International Relations from Stanford University, an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.